Probabilities
by alienonmyshoulder
Summary: Is a case ever really closed?
1. Chapter 1

Pounding through his skull with a dull ache, Don tried his best to ignore it. _What was it? A doubt?_ Something niggled away deep inside telling him he'd missed something. Ignoring it, he convinced himself this was a good headache. Sort of. The case was closed. Now all that lay ahead of him was beer and bed. Oh, ok, after the paperwork. Oh yeah, and after Robyn…

A hand wiped across his brow in an effort to focus, get it done.

"Need a hand?"

Don's gaze lifted from the paperwork to see Megan in the process of pulling her jacket on.

"No. Go home. I'm just finishing these. See you in a couple of days."

"OK. But don't say I didn't offer."

"Thanks."

In case he changed his mind, Megan quickly grabbed her things and effortlessly navigated her way to the lifts while shuffling through her bag to look for her car keys.

Ping.

The lift opened and Megan began to enter while still firmly absorbed in her bag.

"Hey."

Charlie's warm welcome came as a surprise, and a soft thud, as they gently collided at the entrance of the lifts.

"My brother still here?"

"Yeah. Guess someone's looking for a lift."

"Hey, can't a guy just drop by on family?"

"Sure, but you haven't." Megan smiled as she pressed the button (and Charlie's at the same time!). She didn't want to seem rude but man did she want to get home.

Charlie smiled too as he dragged himself to Don's desk. A buzz hung in the air of the office. Other agents with cases still unsolved moved about with a determined urgency. It wasn't until he reached Don's desk that a calm descended.

"Case closed huh."

Charlie startled Don, but he didn't show it.

"Oh. Yeah, hey thanks for your help too."

"No problems. So you gonna be long?"

"Huh. No, maybe another half hour. Paperwork." Finally Don glanced up from the paperwork to properly look at Charlie. "What do you want?"

Charlie just grinned back at Don.

"Oh man. Seriously bro. You'd wait half an hour just to get a lift home! Take the bus."

"It's late…ish. I'd have to wait at least that for a bus. Dad's not home for dinner tonight but I can cook you something."

This time Don couldn't hide his thoughts and visibly grimaced.

"Hey!" Charlie was genuinely insulted.

"Woah! Put the family fight on hold for one second." Megan forced a smile as she slunk back to her desk.

"I thought you'd left. You follow the exit signs."

Megan gave Don 'a look' while she rummaged through her desk searching for something. Her frustration was under control but enough brimmed to the surface to get noticed.

Don had a thought. "Hey, you going home?" His intentions were pretty clear to Charlie but Megan seemed too preoccupied to pick up on it.

"With any luck."

Don motioned his hand towards Charlie then leant back in his chair with his hands behind his head and proceeded to ask Megan the favour.

"You wouldn't mind dropping Charlie off would you? If it's not too far out of your way of course."

Megan didn't even look up from her methodical, yet hurried, search of the desk.

"Only if I can find my keys" she said.

Charlie smiled. Not because of the chance of a lift straight away, nor because she'd lost her keys. He smiled because he knew something they didn't. Something with a number to it.

"You know some mathematicians at Cambridge in England conducted a study on losing keys. They worked out the probability and likelihood of various locations and came to a surprising yet simple finding."

"Oh yeah". Megan was certainly not as amused as Don was. Even the headache seemed to pale in light of Megan being the focus of Charlie's lecture, not him.

"Yeah" Charlie said indignantly. He looked at Don's smirk and, undeterred, continued.

"What they found was that 76.4 percent of the time the keys are where you first looked. You see, people look harder for something once they believe it to be missing.

When you first look for your keys you don't assume they're lost, you assume they are in a different spot. Once you've checked that second spot you think they are lost and begin to look harder everywhere else.

As you've already checked the first spot, and the second most likely place, you then begin to look harder in all the rest. But you never go back to the first place. You assume you've checked there. Yet when you checked there, you didn't know the keys were missing so you didn't look very hard. You need to go back to the first place you looked BEFORE you thought your keys were missing. The first place you always go, without thinking, for your keys."

"Trust me Charlie, they are not where I first looked."

Don steadied himself in his chair as he repositioned himself in an effort to go back to work. He didn't want to embarrass Megan. He knew how annoyingly right his little genius brother could be.

"Where was that?"

"What?"

"Where did you first look? Your bag?"

"Yes and they're not in there."

Megan pulled out her bag, opened it to the section she always put her keys and, in frustration, showed Charlie.

"See. Not there."

Charlie took the bag gently. He didn't want to show Megan up, he was trying to help. Carefully, he let his eyes wander over the key area then down to the depths of the bag. "Wow! You really are a girl. Look at all that 'stuff', no wonder they're lost."

Megan crossed her arms in front of her chest. Charlie had 10 seconds of his little game left.

"Oh oh." Don went straight back to his paperwork. _She's getting ready to kick butt._

Gingerly, Charlie looked up at Megan and then shook the bag, fairly hard. The soft tinkle of metal, keys to be precise, could be heard.

Heat began to flush to Megan's cheeks. _Oh man!_

Charlie gently removed a set of keys from the bottom of the bag. A soft chuckle was swallowed by Don. It didn't go unnoticed by Megan as a glare bore down on him.

Turning to Charlie, she graciously accepted defeat. "76.4 percent huh"

"76.4 percent" Charlie nodded.

"Hey, well, good to know you're part of the majority" Don cracked.

Charlie fumed. "It's not about majorities Don, it's about probabilities…"

A laugh and "whatever" from Don waved off Charlie's indignation at another ignorant misuse of language in the description of math. Megan took the cue, grateful to have not lost her keys, grateful to be going home. She grabbed Charlie by the elbow and linked hers to it.

"I guess I owe you that ride now."

ooOoo

Half an hour of paperwork had turned in to an hour and a half. Don rose from his desk and headed to the break room to grab another coffee.

On the way back, he popped 2 aspirin and washed them down with the black gold. At his desk he stood and stared at the folders in front of him.

Yes it was a case closed, but when a victim dies you never really feel like it's closed. There was nothing they could do. They couldn't have gotten there earlier, heck, Charlie's analysis of the data was faster than any computer at times. They'd done everything they could, he'd done everything he could. _I hope._ Despite this, a mother was coming to terms with the fact that yesterday her teenage daughter was alive and today she was gone.

It was a kidnapping gone wrong. Over drugs. Sure the daughter wasn't some innocent, but she didn't deserve to die, not for drugs, not for money and not because the FBI couldn't get there in time.

Rationally, Don knew they'd done a great job. It was just, this time, great didn't equal a happy ending. That was life and he was used to it. Still a twinge of guilt bubbled below the surface, adding weight to the burden his job accumulated. _Or is it something else? _

Something, there was something he missed. He just couldn't put his finger on it. They had a confession; the evidence, the case, everything was tidied up so why did he feel this way?

He picked up a crime scene photo of the girl from one of the open folders. Death by overdose. It seemed like it should be a calm way to die. The picture told a different story. Bruises, matted hair, scratch marks where she'd fought for her life. Fear leached from her glassy eyes as death came, unwanted and with such violence. Her mouth was open in a scream, something that happened after death when the muscles relaxed. Inadvertently Don's hand rubbed his neck over the ghost of an old memory.

Was it numbness? Was he actually numb to these kind of images. He certainly didn't feel much at the moment. At least the headache meant he felt something. It was simply a burden, he felt weighed down by the senselessness of all these deaths.

Again he wiped his hand across his forehead, in recognition of the faint throbbing. As he did, something glistened on his desk, catching his eye.

Shoving aside the paperwork from the folders he noticed a sealable plastic bag. The victim's personal effects, not a forensic evidence bag thankfully.

Inside lay an unusual silver band glinting from the desk light bouncing off it. It was a cross between a sorority ring and the kind of ring a teenager wears to feel grown up yet unique. It was well made, expensive and would have been confused for a sorority ring if it weren't for the fact the letters on it were not Greek, maybe just symbols. It was too well made, too unique and too expensive to not have some significance for the girl.

A sigh escaped Don's lips.

His early reprieve from paperwork had gone haywire, and now this. His day was not going to end, and neither was this headache. He couldn't leave this for someone else, he had to do it himself and he wasn't going to enjoy this. Something about Sarah Peckham had disturbed him and he did not relish having to speak to her again.

With the last of the paperwork completed, Don piled the folders onto the assistant's desk who would file it in the morning. He flung on his jacket, grabbed his keys and then quickly snapped his arm out to look at the time. 8:47pm. _Too late? Nah, she'll be up, she won't sleep. Who could. Oh man, I forgot again. Robyn!_

The last action before leaving the office was to grab the bag with the ring in it. He then walked to the lifts and flipped open his phone.

"Councillor….Yeah…sorry, look…oh. OK. Well what about tomorrow?…No, ok, don't worry about it. I'll talk to you tomorrow. I promise."

Snapping his phone shut, and looking a little disappointed that Robyn was clearly busier on a case than he was, he slipped in to his car. He didn't need an address, he knew where he was going, _hopefully for the last time_. In a few hours this thought would seem prophetic.

ooOoo

Lights flashed in a steady stream on to his face as he drove down the highway in the dark to the outer suburbs of LA. With the lack of affluence came a proliferation of bars which sped past him by the side of the road as though mocking him.

If he wasn't so diligent he'd be drinking a beer right now. _Oh well._ Robyn then popped in to his head. _I'd be having a beer WITH Robyn._ Then he realised she was still working on her case so actually it would be just him and a beer, but that was a better option than this. What a great pairing.

Finally the big black "hey, look at me, I'm FBI" van turned in to the driveway of a dilapidated house. A huge sigh escaped Don's lips again as he turned off his lights and sat there for a second. He did not enjoy this but he had to remind himself he was doing a good thing.

Gradually he managed to pull himself out of the car and walk up to the front door.

Knock.

Almost from habit he was about to shout "FBI" but caught himself just in time.

Knock. Knock.

Light from the window flickered as the curtain opened quickly and then fell back in to place. _Is that whispering inside? _It was late, he was tired, he had a headache, he needed sleep and he needed for this case to be really over.

Finally the door creaked open, catching on the security chain and groaning. A tearful woman in her early 50's looked back at Don.

"Agent Eppes?"

It was more than surprise in her voice. _What the hell was it?_

She lived alone, now. _God, how do you cope? The first night. At least I expected mom to die, at least I could prepare._

"Sorry to bother you Mrs Peckham. Can I come in?"

"No!"

Don was genuinely shocked for a second. _Maybe she blames me, the FBI, for what happened. Of course she does._

"Ok, look, I am truly very sorry for your loss. I only came here tonight to pass on one of Anita's personal effects that seems to have been waylaid with her files." Don brought out the ring, still in the bag. He didn't want to touch it. She'd want to touch it, connect with her daughter. He knew that.

"I thought you'd want this."

Mrs Peckham just stood there, unemotional and unresponsive. Her face puffed from her evening of crying no doubt.

As she seemed incapable of responding Don felt the burden of keeping the conversation flowing.

"I found it in the file as I was finishing up the paperwork tonight". _Ouch, wrong thing to say._

"Finishing up the paperwork? Finishing up?"

That had snapped her out of her trance.

"Finishing up her paperwork. You. The FBI. You think this is over?"

Don's shock at the statement didn't last long. _What's going on here? _He didn't get the chance to find out. CLICK. He knew that sound all too well. Only it usually sounded different when he did it, on the other end of the shiny barrel.

"Don't move". The gun spoke to him. At least with a gun pointed behind his skull that was the way it seemed.

Sharp, stinging, familiar pain. Then numbness. A needle. _What the hell?_ _What is with me and being drugged? _

All Don could do was stare at Sarah Peckham while the drug stunned and immobilised him. She stared back with what he thought was fear. Blood drained from his face and he then fell heavily on the porch. One sweet relief was that his headache seemed to subside. Then again, the whole world seemed to subside. A swift kick by a boot to his side brought him back briefly and a moan escaped his lips, he thought. Nothingness took hold and Don slipped away from reality. What was it he had said about hoping this was the last time he visited this place?


	2. Chapter 2

Charlie lay on the couch, furiously reading and marking term papers.

Relaxed in the chair, Alan sat with his glasses tipped on the edge of his nose, pen poised to fill in another box of his crossword.

The comfortable silence hung between them until Alan sighed and put down his paper. He pulled his glasses from his face and looked at Charlie.

"You gonna be up all night with that?" His hand gesticulated to all the papers methodically scattered around the sofa. "It's almost midnight."

"Only a few more left. Why?"

Alan gave Charlie a mock look of concern.

"Just wondering when you'll learn to prioritise. Get this done at work. Like a normal working person. Maybe leave you time to find a mother for my grandchildren."

"Ha. Ha. Don's still working. He's the one you should be worried about. Statistically…"

Alan cut off the lecture by rising from his chair.

"At least he's one step closer than you, but you're right. If he keeps working so much he'll lose the woman he's got."

Instantly Alan turned to head upstairs, a satisfied grin plastered across his face.

Shocked at his father's statement, Charlie could only stare.

"Don has a woman? What. When?" Charlie gagged for words. "Why am I always the last to know?" He screamed at his father as he continued to climb the stairs.

It wasn't often that he knew something Charlie didn't. Alan couldn't resist savouring this moment even though it had almost killed him to keep quiet once he'd arrived home after dinner, waiting till the perfect moment came. He'd won. What a nice sleep he'd have.

Hands in the air, Charlie lay dumbstruck on the couch. _Is that why he got Megan to drive me home. Oh man. Does everyone know? Even Larry?_

ooOoo

"Did you know Don has a woman?"

"Interesting term, 'a woman'. An entire gender, 2.5 billion wonderful beings full of mystery and wonder. Condensed to one label – woman."

"Larry."

"Yes Charles."

Charlie was getting frustrated. "Did you know Don was seeing someone?" He emphasised the words this time.

"What? Oh no. Though I hardly think I'd be the first to know of his romantic dalliances."

"Yeah, well, neither am I."

"Speaking of which. How are YOUR romantic dalliances progressing?"

"Amita?"

"Yes. Unless there's someone else you'd like to tell me about."

"I, um, seem to be in the way of her career currently and that's what she's concentrating on at the moment. Romance, and therefore Charlie Eppes, don't make the equation. We don't add up."

"I see. I guess we can all understand that. Still if you cut off work colleagues as potential mates AND then concentrate on work." Larry let the statement hang in the air, unfinished. "Well, it doesn't really seem to leave much space or opportunity for anybody else to have a romantic dalliance with if you change your mind. Stars can shine on endless galaxies but they only ever come close to touching one when they die spectacularly. Let's hope Amita is not planning on becoming a star."

Charlie pondered Larry's analogy. He was starting to feel worse about Amita than he had. There was nothing he could do about it, she made her own decisions. Besides, weren't they talking about Don?

"Yeah well Don's star seems to have exploded and I seem to be the only one who missed the show. Again."

Larry felt for Charlie. A brilliant mind, so much knowledge condensed in to one man. And yet so many things eluded him. Oh how he hated it when it became obvious that there were pieces of knowledge floating around, simple bits of knowledge that he just didn't know.

"I thought you said you hadn't seen much of each other lately? Other than that drug case he had you working on. I believe you said it occupied a lot of his time."

"I did. IT did. But he found time to tell Dad."

"Maybe Alan knows when to ask the right questions. You can be a little insular when you're working. Hard for you to notice what's going on with other people. Much like Don actually. Does he ask you about Amita?"

"All the time Larry."

Oh, that tact hadn't worked. Larry decided Charlie needed to work this out for himself.

"Well, maybe you just need to ask more."

"Thanks" Charlie sarcastically whipped.

Larry put down the ball he'd been tossing while talking to Charlie. He placed it on the desk, gave him a knowing glance and walked out of the office.

"And that's exactly what Amita said to me" Charlie faintly whispered once he'd left.

A wad of papers stared back at Charlie, waiting to be marked. He had taken his dad's advice, to do the marking at work, during work hours. This morning provided the perfect opportunity, no classes till 2.

The conversation with Larry made his mind wander as he attacked the papers. Was Amita really focused on a career so much that she couldn't date? Maybe she had simply said it to let him down gently. Maybe she just wasn't interested in him, that way.

The morning passed and Charlie had thought more than he'd marked. Only 10 papers had been graded. His class started in ten minutes. _Damn. Guess I'll be doing it at home again._ All his smugness that he was going to shower on his dad was now put on hold. Maybe tomorrow.

ooOoo

"Do you want to try your brother?"

Alan hadn't looked up while he spoke from the dining table. He continued to trawl through the bevy of take-away menus. His day at the centre had really worn him down. It wasn't the thought of cooking that he couldn't face, in fact he would enjoy that, it was the dishes afterwards. It wasn't like Charlie would be doing any, not with his marking littering the lounge again.

"Sure he won't be with his 'woman'." Charlie spat the last sentence out a little more comically than he intended. For Don to keep a secret from him was fairly normal, but with his dad rubbing it in his face, well it began to feel like a conspiracy.

"Charlie, I only found out about it yesterday." Alan glanced up over the rim of his glasses and looked towards Charlie. "And Don didn't tell me. Never underestimate the power of a father to find out their child's secrets."

Charlie was amazed his dad had found this out for himself. Perhaps there was some genetic link to this detective work Don did. Maybe Larry was right. Maybe he was too blind to other people's lives. _Nah, dad's not that smart. Someone told him._

"So?" Alan stood in the doorway looking at Charlie with his hands on his hips. Charlie just stared back from his papers with a confused look on his face. "You gonna call your brother or what? I want pizza."

"Oh" said Charlie finally remembering. _Absent minded professor, oh god please not yet. _Charlie crept off the sofa, careful not to disrupt his organised chaos of papers. Picking up the landline, Charlie dialled Don's cell.

"Straight to voicemail."

"Try his apartment, you never know. She's a lawyer I hear, she probably works late too so he may be just lazing around waiting for a call." Alan hid the smirk. Score 2. Another bit of information Charlie didn't know skilfully revealed. He could feel Charlie's stunned stare behind him. Charlie's hadn't actually said the word 'what' but his lips certainly mouthed it.

"Ways and means Charlie boy, ways and means." Alan chuckled to himself.

Ignoring his dad finally, Charlie dialled Don's apartment. This time however, he wanted him to answer the phone. Too many questions needed to be asked. Boy did he hate not knowing stuff.

"Answerphone. Anything else I should know about?"

"You know you could ask him yourself."

"Yeah, like you did. What's your source? Spill it pops."

"Pepperoni."

"What?"

"The pizza. I want pepperoni. While you have the phone."

Charlie just stared back at his dad in disbelief. He hated pepperoni.

"I'll order 2 then."


	3. Chapter 3

Something was digging in to his face. It was uncomfortable. It was dark but the sun was beginning to inch its way up to the horizon. _Gravel? _At the same time as he blinked his eyes open a fiery hot torment seared through his body. Pain erupted through every muscle. He would have screamed if he had enough breath in his body to do so. His eyes slammed shut again in retaliation to the ordeal. _What was it?_ His stomach.

A hand gingerly brushed his stomach. _Wet. _Carefully opening his eyes he looked down at his hands. It was dark, he couldn't really tell, but he thought he saw blood.

Again he slammed his eyes shut as the pain electrified his body. _God this hurts, bad._ Despite this, his FBI training had to kick in. He had to know where he was. Had to get help.

It was so dark, he could hardly work out where he was. _Gravel. _Was he on a road? Looking around, wincing through sharp bursts of pain, he ascertained it was an alley. He could be anywhere and with a foggy brain he just couldn't remember how the hell he'd gotten there, let alone spontaneously started bleeding from his belly. _Not good._

He knew what he had to do and he just didn't know if he could do it. Stand up and get out to somewhere more open, more familiar.

Now, to actually stand up. Even with the pain coursing through every cell in his body, Don felt sure that being horizontal was going to be preferential to being vertical. Still, no one seemed to be here and even if he could yell, who would hear?

He placed his left hand on the road, sharp bits of gravel dug in to his hand. _Great, more pain._ The right hand lay firmly on his stomach, where it had been since he'd first felt the blood. Leaning in to his shoulder he forced movement to bring his legs up. _God, that really hurts, bad. _Dizziness threatened to thwart him but he focused on keeping it at bay. For some reason, he felt his life could depend on it. Again he leaned in to his shoulder and forced his legs to push. Don rose off the ground slowly. He wasn't standing straight by any means, but you could say he was standing. And swaying.

_Focus. _He allowed himself to tumble sideways when he saw the wall close by. He slammed into the brickwork and bit his lip. _Must remember not to do that again in a hurry. _Slowly the pain ebbed from excruciating back to unbearable. One leg in front of the other, and using the wall to guide him, Don somehow managed to walk the 500 metres to the end of the alley.

He had never felt so happy to hear the sound of cars. _Thank God I live in LA. _A streetlight filtered light across his face, but also thankfully across the street. The odd car careened by in the dark on the street that unfolded before him. It was too early, the shops outside the alley were shut. People don't walk in LA. There was only one way to grab attention.

Breathing in all his strength as much as drawing back from the pain, Don did what he needed to do. He wasn't sure how long he could stay upright as his vision was really spinning. The noise of the traffic seemed like it was in another room. He was disconnected in his own world.

_Stay upright so they see you._

And with that Don stepped out on to the road, his left hand waving in the air. Tyres screeching was the last thing he heard.

ooOoo

"Agent Reeves"

Megan rolled over in her bed with the landline cord wrapped around her arm. She had just woken up and 'Agent' was not the preferred title she liked to hear on the other end of the line when it was her day off.

"Yes"

"Hi, it's Agent McAdams. I've been asked to call you in relation to the Peckham case."

"Can't it wait till Friday. We'll all be back in the office then. It's closed."

"Actually no. We've had to reopen it in light of recent evidence."

Finally Megan's attention was caught. If she hadn't been so tired maybe she would have been quicker, but on her days off she let her guard down, she had to.

"What evidence? We have a confession and analysis that supports that confession about where the drugs were coming from."

"I understand that. Anita Peckham's mother has made some allegations which may dispute those findings if proved. We have to reopen."

Something suddenly occurred to Megan and she didn't like it.

"So why are you calling me?"

"They concern Agent Eppes."

ooOoo

Colby was sitting at his desk flipping through new paperwork. He didn't hear David and Megan arriving together.

"Colby." Megan began taking her jacket off and placing it on her chair in the other workspace.

"Oh hey." Colby turned around and tossed the paperwork and folders he'd been reading on David's desk. Megan and David hovered around them.

"What have they got Colby?"

"Mrs Peckham claims that Don was the one responsible for supplying drugs to her daughter. That he had her killed when he felt she was going to spill the beans to one of us and that he asked Ridley to confess to the crime or he'd do the same to his family and friends."

You couldn't tell what any of them were thinking, they were working now.

"And Don?" Megan put down the folder and pulled her shirt sleeves up past her elbows.

"Nothing. No one has been able to contact him for questioning." Colby slid his chair away from David's desk and looked at the others. He wanted to see their reaction and give them space to think what their next move would be.

"So, as far as he knows at the moment, he's still enjoying his day off and this case was closed." David shook his head.

"Someone has to find him." Megan looked at Colby and David. None of them wanting this job, but they had to find him before the new investigative team did. Prepare him.

"I'll do it."

Colby and Megan were both relieved that David volunteered. When an agent is under suspicion of corruption the powers that be will often treat them more severely than a criminal suspect. The FBI can't afford to ruin a case on one of their own by doing anything untoward and as such, it usually means the agent is guilty before being proved innocent, to save any accusations of corruption on the FBI as a whole. They all knew what was coming.

"Ok. Colby and I will go over the case in the meantime and see if there is anything they could link Don to these allegations. Cover our bases. Damn."

"What?" Colby looked up at Megan as she made that last statement.

"I offered to help him finish the paperwork and he said no. Damn." Megan knew this was the first of many well intentioned acts on Don's behalf that would be used against him. "What does she gain from this? Why would she do this? The case was closed."

"She blames us for her daughter's death." Colby said frankly.

"Her daughter was selling drugs to 13 year old schoolchildren." David said coldly.

"Still. She has nothing to gain from this. Does she?" That wasn't really a question from Megan. It was a statement and their plan of attack for uncovering the truth.

ooOoo

David stared at his cell as he sat in the car. He was parked a few blocks away from the Eppes' family home. Earlier he had been to and through Don's apartment. The FBI kept keys for all of them but it still felt like breaking in. There wasn't any sign of Don having been there recently but that didn't mean anything. A couple of messages lay on his answerphone, one from Charlie about pizza. The place was orderly enough but then if you rarely do anything but sleep in your place you wouldn't expect much less. His cell wasn't answering but even that wasn't unusual. No agent ever kept their phone on during their days off. The FBI numbers don't display on phones so you would never be able to tell if it was just a private number or a work call.

Something Megan had said before he left intrigued him. She said to wait until she had tried someone and then he could call in on the Eppes'. They were the last port of call in discovering where Don was. David was as intrigued with Megan as to why Sarah Peckham would accuse Don of this. Of course, at the moment he was more concerned about where Don was. Sure he had a life outside of work but he was reasonably sure that he would be more contactable than this. Without alarming them, he just hoped Alan or Charlie could help.

The phone rang.

"Sinclair. Ok. What? Yeah sure not a problem. I'll let you know."

David sighed as he cranked up the car and began to head to the Eppes' home. Whoever Megan called had not only not seen Don but apparently had been expecting him to call, yesterday. Megan assured him she'd fill him in on all the details of this mystery person once he was back in the office, and only on the condition that when they found Don he NEVER mentioned it. Despite the worry a slight smile curled the edge of his lips. _Don has a girlfriend huh._

The smile quickly disappeared once he turned the engine off and jumped out of his car. He walked the short distance to the front door of Charlie's house. He paused for a second before knocking.

Alan opened the door. His glasses rested precariously on his face and he held a blueprint in his hand.

"David? You looking for Don or Charlie?"

"Hey Alan, Don first."

"Ah well he's definitely not here. Charlie on the other hand could be here. To be honest I haven't checked so he's probably in the garage. Hope he isn't dead."

David drew in his breath sharply and blinked at Alan in fear. Alan didn't note the fear, only surprise and elaborated. "From blood loss caused by papercuts. Midterm time. Come in come in."

"Thanks Alan." David breathed again.

Before asking the next question David paused. He had to do this as tactfully as possible so as to not alarm Alan. A son missing is a son missing for anybody and the FBI turning up on your doorstep asking about the whereabouts of someone was a frightening proposal even if your eldest was an FBI agent himself.

Alan seemed to sense something and he broke the silence first.

"So, you know your way to the garage right?" David just looked at him. "For Charlie."

"Oh yeah, sure. Um. Look it's Don I'm really looking for." David saw the flash of concern cross Alan's face and quickly continued. "It's his day off and we just need to get in contact with him. You know how it is. Took em 3 phone calls to find me on my day off."

"I think Charlie likes to refer to it as the Don triangle. Science could easily explain his whereabouts, I mean he must be somewhere right, but we choose to think of him as disappeared. Still, if anyone knows where to look for Don at these times, well can you ask them to let me know the secret. Personally, I haven't spoken to him in quite a few days. Or seen him. Of course he may be a little preoccupied these days." David became concerned at this revelation till he remembered, _a girlfriend, right._

Alan shuffled him along to the garage. Chalk dust filtered through the air and filled David's lungs as soon as he entered. _Is this stuff carcinogenic? _The faint tap slide of chalk on a blackboard could be heard.

"Hey Charlie."

Charlie turned and tried to focus on an object further away than an arms length. "Oh hey David. What's up?" Suddenly a thought occurred to Charlie. "The case is closed isn't it? Was there something wrong with my analysis?"

"Oh no, no of course not. Actually I'm just looking for Don. Have you spoken to him lately?"

"Yeah."

David's heart skipped a beat. Don wasn't missing.

"Yeah, I asked him to give me a lift home the night before last. Megan ended up dropping me home. Allegedly he was finishing up paperwork and therefore too busy to drop his brother home."

David was startled by the use of 'allegedly'. "What?"

"Yeah. Of course now I know he's seeing some lawyer and decided not to tell me, again, about his personal life I suspect it will be some time before he actually calls me. You know if he didn't want to drop me home because he had a date with that hot shot lawyer he could have just said. Course that's Don for you."

David could tell Charlie was upset. _Lawyer huh._ _Snap out of it man, job to do OK!_

"Ok. Fine. I was thinking more recent than that but that's fine. If you haven't seen him since then that doesn't help us. Thanks."

Charlie looked at David. He wasn't blind to other people, he noticed something. Something was wrong.

"He's alright though isn't he? I mean have you tried whoever this woman is. He's probably with her right?"

David did not know what to say. No one had seen Don. Charlie was his last hope. It wasn't looking good. "Yeah, of course, we'll find him. Like I said, it is his day off, I really wouldn't expect an FBI agent to be easy to find." David smiled.

Charlie didn't. "They found you."

Arguing with a genius was always precarious. "Sure, but I ain't the team leader, I've still got a lot to learn." David saved the moment, and felt quite proud of his skill in doing so. He'd picked up a bit from the way Don handled Charlie and it clearly had sunk in. _Don._ Still he wasn't officially missing till he didn't turn up for work tomorrow. David reminded himself of this and the fact he couldn't tell the Eppes' what was going on till it was official. This was the part of his job that not only did he hate but the families hated. David knew why Don kept things from his family and friends. He had to. They couldn't know until they needed to. Don had to contain the fears of thousands of families until that moment he could release them officially, be certain it was a fact. Still, you never let go of everything.

Charlie had accepted David's response, shrugged and gone back to his chalkboard. Alan poked his head around the beams. "Everything OK?" Only Charlie said yes.


	4. Chapter 4

"Sir can you hear me?"

An annoying light dragged Don's mind from an abyss. Pain immediately electrified his body again. He remembered the pain. That's all.

"He's up. Sir, can you tell me your name?"

_What's going on?_ Don didn't answer. He didn't have the strength. He also didn't have the answer. His brain was holding on to that information until someone provided relief for the pain.

"Unresponsive. BP real low. Let's move quick Ok."

If Don wondered who these voices were his brain wasn't letting him know. All he felt was excruciating pain. _Stop it. Please stop it._

"Move move."

The voices sounded further away than any he'd heard before but he didn't have time to contemplate that. Sweet sweet relief from the pain came, in the blackness he remembered something. _It's Don._

ooOoo

"Colby, any John Doe matches?"

Megan marched across to Colby's computer where he was searching a database of accident victims. And the morgue.

"No. Least not yet."

"What about his phone?"

Colby tore himself away from the computer and pulled out a folder. "Only one call on his cell since we last saw him. 8:48pm 2 nights ago, last night of the case. To Robyn Brookes. Why would he be calling the DA? She wasn't even on this case was she?"

Megan looked at Colby over her glasses she had put on to read the report. "No."

"Ok. Well at least we know who he was seeing then. I assume you called her?"

Megan didn't glance up from the paperwork, she continued to read for a second before responding. "Yes, and if you tell Don I told you about this when we find him you are dead meat."

Colby smiled. "Hey, you didn't tell me. That paperwork did. And I'm real good at my job."

Megan smiled again. She hadn't actually told any of them it was true. They'd all found out. In fact she was probably the only one who hadn't picked up the signs. She had simply caught Don and Robyn at a café near the DA's office. Don's look had told her enough to know if she mentioned a word to anyone he'd kill her. Of course, Megan understood. Relationships were hard at the FBI. It was hard enough to find time for someone let alone privacy to decide if it was going to go somewhere. It was the unwritten code. No comments until you start telling people. Of course that had backfired on her when she went out to dinner with Larry. She'd accidentally let it slip and boy had Don jumped on that opportunity to comment. It was part of the reason she didn't feel so guilty about letting Alan prize the information from her. _He'll wait. _He'd slip up soon. If they found him.

"Megan?"

Colby had clearly said something to her and she didn't hear. _Focus Reeves. _"Sorry, my mind wandered."

"Hey, trust me, I understand. I'm having a hard time focusing too. Images just flash in to your mind right?"

"Yeah."

"Anyway, like I said, no calls from his landline for like 5 days. And that was to order pizza."

"Hey." David brushed past Megan and patted Colby on the shoulder before slinging his jacket over his chair.

"Hey David." Megan didn't need to say anymore, he'd already told them Don hadn't been seen.

"Like I said, it's like he disappeared. This isn't good is it?" David sighed.

"No. The other team understand we're concerned. I feel bad. I know they don't feel he's guilty but someone has to investigate this new angle." Megan let that hang in the air for a second. "Guess, in a way we've got the good job."

Colby and David understood. At the worst, as far as they were concerned, Don was dead but innocent. To the other team Don could not only be dead but guilty. It affected everybody and yet it was odd to see a room full of agents feeling but not speaking this.

"Right, well I've still got a few more searches to do. I'll update it again in case there were any new reports in the last few hours. 2 hospitals and 3 morgues have already called but they didn't match."

Colby turned back to his desk. He had to do something, he didn't like to sit and think. There simply wasn't time.

Suddenly Agent McAdams strolled in to their workstation area looking solemn. "Megan."

Megan startled at the voice and turned away from looking at a folder with David towards the agent. He was heading up the case against Don. He was a fellow agent but at this moment, he was the enemy. It broke her heart to feel this but she knew it was normal. Perhaps the only normal thing in this. "Yes Robert."

"The team has searched Sarah Peckham's house. We thought you should see this."

Agent McAdams passed Megan the report he was referring to. As she read it, David sidled up to her to read over her shoulder. His face dropped. Colby looked on waiting for the information.

"Oh God." David startled as he realised he had said that out aloud.

Agent McAdams spoke, mostly for Colby's benefit. "Yeah, his phone and badge were found at her house. In her garden. It appears he was watching her from the garden through the window. I repeat 'appears'."

Megan was thankful for this slight window on his thoughts. "Thanks. Of course, this only adds to the evidence we are compiling that Agent Eppes' has been targeted. It links Sarah Peckham definitively to whatever scam is going on. This is good. Don is not the kind of guy to lose his badge and cell - guilty or innocent."

David and Colby were glad Megan said this. For every piece of evidence they could gather against Don they would find out how it worked for him. Still without knowing where Don was things were going to be a lot harder to prove on either side.

When the Agent left the others let out a sigh simultaneously. Suddenly Colby's phone rang.

"Granger. Sure, put em through. Agent Granger speaking. Right. Describe that again. Thanks. I'll send someone down."

Megan stared at Colby for a second.

"We may have him?" Colby could not handle wasting time. "That was Grace Memorial. They have a John Doe which seems to fit Don's description. Injuries pretty bad, he's not conscious. Someone needs to go down right away and check it out."

Without waiting for a response Colby picked up his jacket to go. Megan stalled him with an arm to his shoulder.

"You'll have to take one of the other team with you. We have to do this right." Colby sighed. She was right. He could identify him but he couldn't speak to him.

"I'll ask McAdams." Colby looked back at the pained looks on both David and Megan that they were trying to conceal.

"If this is Don what can we expect. His injuries I mean?" David figured Colby hadn't said too much because they were bad.

"Stabbed. Knife wound to the abdomen, enormous loss of blood. Other internal injuries. He was also hit by a car, that's how they found him. Actually walked out in front of a car. Tried to stop but still, with a knife wound his reflexes weren't great so he was lucky he was hit at a low speed. And David." Colby had already started leaving the cubicles when he turned around. "If this is Don, someone's gonna have to go tell the Eppes'."

David nodded. Colby knew this was David letting him know to call as soon as it was confirmed so he could go to Charlie's. Two different agents in one day would be too much of a shock. David's presence would cause concern for a second trip but at least he would be able to tell them what was going on, why he'd been before.

ooOoo

Colby walked about 2 paces in front of Agent McAdams as he burst through the doors. He flashed his badge at the nurse on the reception desk, spoke briefly and had started to move off in another direction before the other agent had even made it to the first desk.

A short walk down the corridor Colby and Agent McAdams were greeted by a doctor. They were led in to a small office and quickly briefed. Special privileges were being granted due to the police nature of the investigation. At least that's what the doctor said. Colby knew the reality was the doctor clearly wasn't entirely confident the John Doe would survive the operation so they were being allowed in to identify whilst it was still in progress. The description was too accurate a match for all involved not to believe this wasn't Don Eppes.

Agent McAdams didn't speak to Colby as they gowned up, scrubbed and were prepped for entry.

"This is not only a sterile environment but a fairly demanding operation so please try to limit your impact on the room as much as is possible. For everyone involved." The doctor finished his prep and then escorted them to a theatre room down the hall from the corridor.

A knot in Colby's stomach grew as they walked down the corridor. It was deathly quiet and he prayed this was not an omen. Only the soft swish of the shoebags registered in the silence until they went through the door, oh so quietly.

Once inside the theatre was a hive of noise. Metal clinking and several people walking around behind implements and machinery. Only a couple of people directly over the green sheet seemed to be poised, silent and working slowly. The green sheet gradually fell away to reveal a form beneath it.

As they walked around to the anaesthetists side of the table Colby felt the knot tighten to the point of nausea. The anaesthetist acknowledged their presence by a nod of the eyes rather than any great physical movement. Only when she was certain both agents were directly in a good position to see the face did she remove the mask for a few seconds for them to judge.

The face that lay there was white. It was like so many dead people he had seen on the job. If it wasn't for the tape over the eyes Colby would have assumed it was. Still, this isn't what gripped him the most.

It was Don.

A very pale Don. _God, even a dead Don. Shut up idiot! _Don nonetheless. Instantly after a moment of relief Colby felt guilty. Still, at this moment he was alive.

Both agents nodded and the mask was returned. The doctor who ushered them in quickly gathered them to retreat.

Outside Colby drew in a deep breath and then rested his hands on his thighs, just above his knees, in an effort not to faint. The relief had hit him hard, but the reality of what he'd seen, the injuries, hit him harder and the corridor didn't seem as still as when he'd walked in.

"You Ok Granger?" Agent McAdams rested his hand on Colby's back and then turned to the doctor. "He'll be OK, give him a few seconds. I'll walk him out."

Colby instantly straightened and began to walk towards the exit, fast. Agent McAdams grabbed him and Colby reflexively went to punch him. "Woah. Let me call Agent Reeves for you. It'll take a minute." Agent McAdams said as he ducked from the potential fist.

"Thanks. But I'm calling her. I'll be back in the waiting area in 5."

Agent McAdams nodded. He didn't think his offer would be taken up but he had to show that he was helping and not taking sides.

ooOoo

For the second time that day David drove the short distance to Pasadena. He kept his mind off the task by going through the details of the case. Ridley had confessed. He was a junkie, he fit the profile of the dealer and he just didn't seem smart enough to have any more accomplices. The guy used schoolchildren to sell drugs to schoolchildren once he'd gotten them addicted. To think anyone could believe an FBI agent would be behind such a straight forward case was unbelievable. Still, while he wasn't smart, maybe he did take orders. Orders from someone big enough and bad enough to make him confess to the FBI and face jail and a life sentence over whatever it was they could do.

The thing David needed to work out was what was more dangerous than a junkie dealing?

He didn't get a chance to consider this anymore as the car drove itself in to the Eppes' driveway again. David looked at the clock radio. 4:15pm.

This time when Alan opened the door he was not friendly. He was smart enough to know two visits in one day from an FBI agent who wasn't his son was not good news. He just stared at David, not wanting to hear whatever it was he was going to say.

_Last time you were looking for my son. Don't tell me you found him. Just don't. Don should be telling me he's found, not you David._

"Dad, what's going on, you left the stove on. You trying to burn the place down, it's my insurance now not yours." Charlie bounded in to the lounge area to see Alan and David standing in the doorway not speaking.

"What's going on?" As Charlie said this a term paper fell from his hand and fluttered to the floor.

David had to say it. They needed to be at the hospital right now.

"Alan, Charlie. We found Don and there's no easy way to say this."

_Then don't say it. _Alan willed David not to say it. _Don't say he's dead._

"Firstly he's alive." Alan breathed a sigh of thanks but didn't relent on his stare for information from David. "I don't know all the details but he appears to have been stabbed and he's in Grace Memorial."

Charlie and Alan began to head out the door. David put an arm up to stop Alan at the front. "I think we should turn the stove off first Ok." He looked straight in to Alan's eyes and then told him the part he dreaded the most. "There's more. Some allegations have been made against Don, criminal allegations. It's likely you will be asked questions by other members of the FBI. Please respect that we all have a job to do and that we, Megan, Colby and myself, we don't believe any of the allegations and are actively trying to clear him. I just want you to be prepared for that. I don't believe anyone thinks he is guilty but if we don't do this properly then it will only be worse for Don once he's pulled through this."

Charlie was about to ask a million questions concerning what the hell David was talking about when Alan raised his arm to quiet him. He looked at David and said "Thanks." He was only referring to the faith they shared in Don to not only come out of this alive, but innocent.

David handed him the keys to the car and motioned that he would lock and secure the house in the meantime.

ooOoo

A waiting room never contained so many people. Charlie understood how Don felt. With so many agents in the room he wanted to yell at them to give him some space to think. Megan perceptively had gauged this and ensured David and Colby kept the 2 other agents as far away from Alan and Charlie as possible. This was hard enough to cope with without the vultures ready to pounce once Don's status was revealed. _We all have a job to do, even the family vigil._

When the doctor finally entered the room, slowly and with exhaustion etched on his face Charlie nearly cried. Alan stayed strong and stood to greet the man he hoped had saved his son's life.

"Alan Eppes?"

"Yes. How's Don?"

The doctor nodded towards the FBI agents and Megan and McAdams came forward and stood just behind Alan. Charlie remained seated, unable to look at the doctor, unsure if he should listen.

"He's stable. He's in recovery right now. He's a very lucky man. No organs were ruptured but the knife caused major internal bleeding. He is extremely lucky sir. At the moment he is not out of danger, there's the risk of infection always, but we are hopeful we stemmed the flow of blood internally and that the repairs we did to the region will hold. Thankfully the car did very little damage, a fractured leg." The doctor nodded towards the agents and then returned his face back to Alan. "We're flushing the last of the drugs out of his system now."

"Drugs?" By now Alan was seated next to Charlie again. Gravity had forced him down. He looked up to the doctor to question the drugs part again.

"He'll be out of recovery soon and in an hour we expect you can see him. But yes, there was quite a cocktail of drugs in his system. It affects surgery. We're lucky he isn't showing any signs of withdrawal."

As the doctor left, Megan sat next to Alan and placed her hand on his leg. Don wasn't dead, she felt the relief as much as anyone. She just wasn't sure how he'd cope when he found out the 2 strange agents in the room with them would have to see Don before family. No one could be seen to influence Don and so, despite it breaking her heart, the first people he would see when he woke up would be those agents with a list of questions.


	5. Chapter 5

"My son is injured. In the line of duty. And this is how he is treated?" Alan was fuming red with anger.

"You're not helping Don by getting angry," Megan tried to calm him. She was angry too but this had to be the way it was.

"Helping. Wha…help? I'm not even allowed to see him!"

"OK. Ignoring the fact he wasn't actually injured while officially on duty, ignoring the drugs in his system, heck ignoring the fact we all want to clear his name, ignoring all that. You are still going to have to calm down before you see him. He'll need your support. You and Charlie are the only 2 people right now who are not concerned about this case in his eyes. We have to do this. We have to do this right, clear him, the sooner the better. Don knows this. You need to understand he knows this, better than any of us."

Alan relented and collapsed on to the seat again. Understanding and agreeing were 2 different things.

David and Colby had gone back to the office to continue with the case. It had taken a couple of hours for Don to come out of recovery, the drugs again. '_Drugs' _Charlie thought What the hell happened to him this time.

Megan intended to take her own statement after the Eppes' had seen Don but she wasn't going to tell them that. McAdams and Rogers had been in with him for over half an hour already and Charlie, well Charlie just didn't look right. Megan suspected if they didn't get to see Don soon Charlie would walk out of there.

A nurse quietly brushed through the room and whispered something in Megan's ear.

"Ok you can go in now."

Charlie and Alan both looked up at Megan with disbelief in their faces. Charlie even said "Really."

"Really. Now go, while he's still awake. They want to settle him soon."

ooOoo

A faint glow. A soft hum. A loud constant beep.

Don's face seemed devoid of blood. He looked like his mother. _Dead._ Alan quickly shook that thought from his mind.

He lay there, still with a myriad of tubes feeding blood, drugs and saline in to his system. More tubes fed information to the monitors.

His left hand was tucked under the blanket, his right was bandaged and connected to the IV drip.

Was he asleep? Maybe they wore him out?

"Ah Don."

Alan said it but didn't hear it himself. If he had he would have realised he sounded like a beaten man.

"Hey" came a faint reply from the bed. Don's eyes were barely open but he was awake. Charlie hung back behind his dad while Alan touched Don on the shoulder.

"You Ok?"

Don sort of smirked at his dad's question. It was so hard to talk and McAdams and Rogers had taken every word he felt he could ever say.

"Yeah, you're OK." Alan answered for himself.

Charlie decided Alan would have composed himself from his initial reaction and felt able to join the bed, and the family. He walked around to the other side of the bed.

"Hey bro. Guess I should have known something was up when you didn't return my call for pizza. You not wanting pizza is definitely an anomaly."

Don wanted to laugh but he was exhausted. Why hadn't they come in the morning, when he'd had a rest, maybe he'd be better then. Give him a chance to digest what was going on.

The last thing he remembered, he thought, was speaking to Robyn. _Maybe Megan and Charlie at the office?_ It was a little blurry. So when the agents fired off those questions he couldn't be sure they weren't right. Maybe he was bad. Maybe he was going crazy. Certainly felt like it.

Alan sensed Don's thoughts. "You know it doesn't matter what they say. Charlie knows. I know, your team knows," he gulped before he continued, "your mother knew. You fight every day for good, for others. We know this is all baloney."

"Thanks Dad."

Don had only just managed to get that out. He flicked his eyes over to Charlie after seeing Alan look that way. Charlie's face was weird. Strange. He couldn't stop staring straight down. Alan was worried Charlie wasn't coping. Not coping, mom has cancer style not coping.

Don knew.

"Yeah." Don drew in more breath to finish. "Robyn Brooks. Think I need a lawyer." Don tried to smile. He'd told Charlie he had a girlfriend and was in trouble in one foul swoop.

Charlie was glad he'd finally shared but he couldn't stop staring at the handcuffs that connected Don's left hand under the blanket to the bar on the hospital bed.

He was a prisoner.


	6. Chapter 6

Megan walked out of Don's room to dusk stretching its head over the horizon behind the hospital car park. Only once she reached her car did she release a huge sigh. He'd looked so exhausted, so drained, so sick. In fact, to Megan, it wasn't even Don. This was not the man she knew – broken, confused, questioning himself.

She hadn't pushed for answers. He needed rest. Still till the drugs were fully flushed from his system he wouldn't really be getting much sleep anyway.

Alan and Charlie had left only ten minutes before her. She'd gone in to check he was alright, make sure McAdams and Rogers hadn't freaked him out too much.

Before she went in she called Robyn Brooks. Charlie had asked her. She left a voicemail, _at least lawyers are just as busy as the FBI._

Back at the office Colby and David were still going over the evidence, including Don's statement which she wanted to read.

It was only just past 8pm. Tomorrow was officially their first day back in the office. Don would have been officially missing. _Think positive._ He was alive, it was good.

ooOoo

"And the drug results?" David pointed to Colby's computer. Colby checked his emails then opened one. He read it quickly then turned back towards David and the files.

"Same as the Peckham case haul. Looks like the same chemical make-up. Exactly."

A silence hung between them. Not good, this connected Don to Sarah's claims. Connects him to the drugs.

"OK. Well, alone it doesn't prove anything, not if this was a premeditated attempt to frame Don."

Megan rushed in to their cubicles, creating a wind which lifted some of their folders.

"OK statement," Megan said, her glasses perched on the edge of her nose. Furiously she read and flipped the paperwork in her hands. "Not bad, not good. He doesn't remember much. Not even about the Peckham case in the days before. Still, he was pretty out of it, s'pose they'll be taking another statement tomorrow."

David took the folder out of Megan's hands and sat down to examine it.

"Hey," a faint voice bleated out that croaky greeting. They all looked up to see an unkempt and tired Charlie staring back at them.

"Hey Charlie, what are you doing here?" Megan asked sweetly, but she was concerned.

"Help."

The others glanced up at Charlie with a quizzical look.

"I need to help," Charlie gesticulated towards nothing in particular, "I can help. I've been thinking. Actually can't stop thinking. I just…if I could just look at the evidence against Don. I could help."

Megan's heart sank. He had to do something she understood that, but what? David spoke first. "Fine Charlie, but really, what can you do? Don doesn't remember anything, don't you need data."

Charlie just looked at Megan.

"76.4 percent"

While Colby and David furrowed their brows at the comment, a smile crept on to Megan's face.

"You can tell us where we need to look first! Back before everyone started, before we knew Don was missing?" Charlie half grinned. Colby and David were still confused.

"A sleep deprived agent and a genius –why would we think we'd get any sense," David laughed. Charlie and Megan began walking to her cubicle. Before getting there Megan glanced over her shoulder towards them.

"You continue with the evidence and how we can use it for Don and I'll be with Charlie working out the first place we looked for Don's keys."

ooOoo

"Ok, so you're saying we were the last 2 people to see Don and that was Tuesday night," Charlie placed the marker pen he was holding down on the edge of the board and went to sit with Megan and the files.

"Yeah, apart from who did this of course," Megan tapped the paperwork and continued, "he rang Robyn from the office according to this, we have the GPS on his phone. Went straight to the Peckham's and according to this never left. His phone and badge, they were found in the garden there. Still we don't know why he went there. It's a mystery. You got any magical equations or theories that can work it out?" Megan cheekily grinned at Charlie. She'd never been on a case with Charlie without the whole sibling rivalry simmering under the surface to some extent. This was nice, casual. She liked it.

"You've got cctv though right? What does that show?"

"Not much. David's looking at it once the other team has finished. Probably won't be until the morning. They said there isn't much on it but we'll see."

"Right. So sometime between you and I leaving Don made a decision to go to her house. The only place we can find out why is on that footage." Charlie said it as much to convince himself as Megan.

Megan looked at Charlie and felt a twinge of sadness. "Unless he'd always planned to go there."

"What?"

"Charlie. I have to think of every angle that the case against Don will come up with. I have to have an answer for everything. I have to."

Charlie nodded. He understood but he didn't have to agree and he simply wouldn't. He walked to the board.

"See this," he tapped at a range of numbers, "this is Robyn. "

"Well, I'm sure she'll be happy she's been explained so succinctly," Megan smirked.

Charlie was slightly frustrated at the need to explain everything at this point. Amita would be a sweet relief right now.

"Megan, Robyn alone, these equations in itself. Don, ah, he was in a pretty good place. I've worked these figures before, when he was at a low point, and now, now he's in a good place and this just doesn't add up to what they're saying. And as a mathematician I take objection when the numbers don't add up. Truly."

"Look Charlie, we know this, but a bunch of equations won't prove Don is innocent to the people who will be deciding this. Internal affairs will be taking over from McAdams' team today. It's not going to be so amicable in terms of evidence once that happens. You understand? We need evidence. Let's wait for the cctv and then try and work out why Don went to the Peckham's. That's our 76.4 percent right."

"Probably, " Charlie squeaked dejected. "Let's not rule out anywhere else at this stage, I need more data."

"I know Charlie, believe me I know," Megan sighed.

6


	7. Chapter 7

Once the nurse arrived Don could no longer rest. Between her examination of bandages and tampering with machines, he was well and truly awake.

Only when he heard her leave did he open his eyes. Alan's face bore down on him. Worried. It was the same look he'd kept for the last month of Margaret's life. Fear of loss.

Even with a bit of rest it was still hard for Don to speak. The pain had somehow intensified now he was more alert. His whole body ached but at least he could think more clearly. The fog that had smothered his brain was lifting. Still, it didn't bring any new memories with it.

"Been here long?" Don managed to whisper, then licked his dry lips.

As Alan grabbed water, Don studied his father's face. He felt so hopeless. He didn't realise this was the same thought Alan was having. "Morning. No they don't let you stay long and well, your pals at the FBI seem to think they should be the ones to be spending time with you."

Don remembered the handcuff and tried to lift his hand, in case he'd imagined it. He looked up to his father and apologised.

"Sorry."

Alan simply stared back. In a way he agreed that Don should be sorry. Why wasn't he more careful? Why wasn't he invincible? How could he do this to his family? Don's choices affected so much. "You Ok?"

Don simply smiled back as best he could. He shrugged, then grimaced at the pain the action had caused. "Yeah, sure, I will be."

Alan looked over the top of his phantom glasses (they were in his top pocket) at Don. "You better be."

"Chuck?" Don's voice was getting fainter.

"Avoiding the hospital, working on equations."

Don shut his eyes firmly. What had he done? Why was Charlie like this? It wasn't until he opened his eyes he noticed Alan's raised eyebrow.

"Something about proving an FBI agent's innocence."

ooOoo

Three agents and one young genius huddled around a monitor.

"There," Colby pointed to the screen. An image of Don walking back from the FBI breakout kitchen, taking 2 pills played out on the screen.

"Right." Megan jotted this down. "But that matches up with the body language. Headache. Look." Megan rewound the footage to Don rubbing his forehead.

"You know that doesn't tell us anything, even if he didn't do it all the time," Charlie snapped in frustration.

"We're getting there Charlie. Don taking drugs on the footage, the prosecution are gonna jump on that. This is long and slow and we have to do it. Patience Ok." David had just finished when he noticed someone in the doorway.

"He's right you know." Robyn Brooks stood with a folder in her arms.

"Hey Robyn," Megan said, "You're not.."

"No, wouldn't be appropriate but I told Don I'd get as much information as I could, see if I can jog his memory."

"Yeah, the only the thing the Eppes' brothers are addicted to is information huh," David offered.

Charlie just stared at her, mouth open. "OK, well pull up a seat, this is the security video from the last evening Don was in the office."

Robyn decided to remain standing up the back and occasionally shuffled through her own paperwork while they watched.

"I have to say it. Don is really boring. Not even a nose pick man," Colby sighed as he leant back in his chair. "I mean the guy is just doing paperwork. That's it."

"Yeah well they're gonna say he's going over paperwork, concealing his connection to the case. Why else would he send all his team home and do it all himself."

This was too much for Charlie. He slammed his hands on his head and walked away from his chair. "Why is he guilty before proven innocent?"

Megan put her hand on Charlie's arm but no one else responded. They were all looking and rewinding a segment of the tape.

"What's that?" David grabbed the control and tried to zoom in on something.

"An evidence bag?" Megan directed the question towards David. "But what's in it?"

"Can you zoom in further?" Megan didn't have to ask as David had already begun. The ring began to take form on the monitor.

"A ring? Looks like maybe a teenager's huh," Colby was seeking reassurance. Megan gave it with her look.

"Why would the FBI keep evidence like that?" Charlie asked.

"We wouldn't. That's it. That's why Don went to the Peckham's. He was returning evidence, fixing up someone's error." Megan snapped her folders shut and grinned at everyone.

ooOoo

In the darkened room Charlie stared through to his brother's accuser. Colby and David had gone through every crime scene photo they had. Anita Peckham simply wasn't wearing this ring. It wasn't hers according to the evidence.

Megan could only try and get something out of Sarah Peckham, hope it wasn't evidence from another case mixed in to their folders. Without a connection between the ring and the Peckham's, Internal Affairs would be able to blow holes in their reasoning.

"Mrs Peckham I am going to ask you again and you better think very carefully about how respond. You've made serious allegations which the evidence just doesn't support. You are obstructing the course of justice. Add murder to the pot and you are facing some serious time. You better make sure you don't make any false statements. I'm your only chance, this is it. Put the record straight."

Megan paused not only to read Sarah's body language but to let her words sink in.

"Did Agent Eppes come to your place on Tuesday night to return a personal item he believed was your daughter's or yours? A ring?"

Sarah flinched slightly. A faint flicker of the eyelashes, a deep swallow, eyes looking left, thinking carefully about a response. _I've got her. _Sarah looked straight in to Megan's face with a cold stare.

"No."

No one heard but Charlie swore out loud from the darkness.

ooOoo

"Hey Charlie, you Ok?"

Amita gingerly moved through the garage, not knowing what to expect with Charlie. He didn't stop writing on his blackboard or acknowledge Amita until his equation was finished.

"Hey Amita. Great. I could use your help."

Amita was taken by surprise. She didn't expect this at the best of times lately, but now…now things were different. Don was in hospital, in trouble and with Charlie's track record, well. In a way she felt guilty she didn't think he'd be coping.

"Sure, with what?"

"I'm trying to analyse these relationships." He tapped some equations on the board.

"Where's your data?"

"Here. I don't have enough though."

"No kidding. What's this?"

"Motivation. A ring, evidence, but I just don't have enough data to connect it to a workable equation."

"And this is for?"

"The night Don disappeared. He can't remember, I had to leave it as a variable. I can only go by the evidence being used against him to work out what happened that night. I've gone back to the first place people should have looked, when they didn't know he was missing, didn't know to look."

"Aren't you making a big assumption here?"

"What?"

"That this started the night he disappeared."

Amita was right. God, that's why he needed her. Smart in a way he never would be. He was trapped by his own genius in a way. Amita, she was treated as smart, but not a genius. She had the luxury of being able to exist in the normal population without getting noticed and being able to notice things he never could. She understood people better than he did. She could read them from a perspective he never could.

Charlie rushed to the blackboard and rubbed out a few equations. Rubbing his chalky hands through his unkempt hair he stood thinking and staring at Amita.

"The case. It was never closed. I have to go back through the whole case. Where it started." He then had a thought and looked at Amita, a sad look creeping into his features. "Don missed something?" Don rarely made mistakes, it was unfair that when he did it had nearly cost him his life.

At this moment Alan snuck his head around the corner and was about to ask Charlie why he hadn't visited his brother since last night. He didn't get the chance.

"I need to see Don."

_Well that went better than expected._


	8. Chapter 8

With a cocktail of illegal drugs swishing about in his system, slowly being flushed out, Don's current pain relief was minimal. He was in a lot of pain. Every breath caused an explosion of piercing needles over his muscles. So much so, Don tried not to breathe when he could, just for a moment's relief.

"Wow. You really know how to make a girl think they can take your breath away."

Don smiled, breathed then grimaced in pain.

"Love hurts.'

"Love huh." Robyn looked down at him with concern. Sure she was joking but he kind of took the comedy away by looking so ill, so fragile.

"Get used to visiting hours."

Robyn tried her best to ignore this hospital visiting hours and prison visiting hours comparison comment. They guy was handcuffed to a hospital bed as though he was a risk. Still without much pain relief she wouldn't have blamed him for trying to escape.

"Your team are on the ball. If they wanted you behind bars you would be by now. I hope you were a good agent to work for."

"Charlie?" Don dreaded asking. He hadn't visited all night. Equations or not he still should have been. The problem with being in a hospital and in pain was that people kept things from you. Don wasn't much help last time Charlie flipped out over their mom, he was too angry, but at least he'd been there. Now there was nothing he could do.

"Oh he's a little Eppes' prodigy. Can't get him away from the blackboards."

"Oh Charlie."

Robyn cocked her head and quizzed Don. What was his problem?

"You don't want Charlie's help? Right now I think you need his help."

"Yeah well he may seem alright now but he has a tendency to flip out."

"Well he's helping you and he's OK. He's as normal as anyone can be after finding out their brother was nearly killed."

"He's OK, talkative?"

Yes, why are you so worried about him?"

"Like I said, he has a history."

She wouldn't have blamed him for feeling depressed, self absorbed, taciturn himself, but he wasn't. Don was thinking of others. He never switched off from agent mode. By thinking of everyone else he didn't have to face his own problems, of which there were many right now.

"How about you concentrate on extending your own history for now."

"Don!" Charlie burst through the doors to his room. He recognised he'd interrupted a moment but he didn't have time to apologise.

"Don I need…I need to go over the details of the case with you." Charlie took off his satchel, sat on the other side of the bed and pulled out a notebook.

"Nice to see you too Charlie."

"I'm serious. We've been looking in the wrong place, the wrong beginning. I need to know what first led you to this case. To…" he tapped his book, "...to see how you ended up here."

Don felt uneasy.

"I made a mistake?"

Charlie hadn't thought about the personal implications of this for Don, he was only trying to clear his name.

"Yeah, hopefully. I need more data and Amita, well anyway, this case is the only data. It should explain why you did what you did, came to the conclusions that led to you being sta…being here. Hey Robyn." As an afterthought Charlie realised he hadn't acknowledged Robyn. Robyn simply gave Charlie a nonplussed look.

"The case was closed Charlie, and what I can remember, it's not much. I don't even know if I'm innocent. It's true what they say at school. Drugs are bad OK! My brain is full of holes right now."

A hard breath was sucked in by Don after he finished that. It had taken a lot out of him and his breathing was amplified by the silence that gripped the room now. Charlie and Robyn looked at each other sheepishly. _Don thinks he did this_. This was bad. If Don didn't believe he was innocent, how could he fight. He needed Charlie's help, Charlie's math, more than ever. He felt guilty for feeling this way, it was wrong, but Charlie felt happy. Happy he could actually help Don. He'd be the strong one, he'd find the answers, he'd solve this case. He'd keep the family together.

ooOoo

Knock.

Alan opened the door to an exhausted Megan.

"Hey Alan. Sorry it's so late."

"No, no. There's not really much sleep going on here."

"I just have more files for Charlie and Amita."

"You eaten?"

Megan hadn't had time to eat, she couldn't stop, how could she. Alan jumped on the familiar pause.

"Good. Come in, I'm just dishing out."

"Thanks Alan."

Megan stepped inside the house, thinking it would be quiet. Instead it was a hive of activity. Charlie, Larry and Amita were all sitting at the table going over paperwork.

"Well as you can see, they're at the dining table. Not for long though." Alan motioned to Charlie to pack up the files. Amita got up from the table and walked to Alan, touching him on the shoulder. "I'll give you a hand."

Charlie cleared the paperwork while Larry took Megan's files.

"Thanks Megan. You staying for dinner?"

"Apparently so."

Charlie smirked and then pointed towards the kitchen, almost tripping over a chair as he stepped backwards.

"I'll um, I have to help too."

Larry fidgeted. Even with a couple of dates behind him, he was still nervous with anticipation of what could happen with Megan.

"How are you coping? I mean with all of this. You don't seem to have the time to show concern for a friend, colleague, whatever. None of us do really. What I mean is. Are you OK?" Larry fumbled through, subconsciously rubbing his arm the entire speech. He was fine with conversation but he was so much better when it involved celestial bodies. Then again, Megan could be classed as such.

"Yes Larry, and thanks. Tired though. Of course with the finest minds on the west coast working on this I'm sure it will be over soon. Then you can take me to that place you told me about."

Larry looked confused. So many conversations he'd had in his mind with Megan didn't allow him to sift through to find the ones that were real.

"You know that place, in the desert, where at night the stars are so clear you can actually touch them. You promised."

"Oh, yes, yes. Of course. Oh my it is so beautiful there. When there's no moon you feel like you are alone in the galaxy, floating in the darkness. There is no earth." Larry was transported back from his mental journey by the kitchen doors banging open.

"Right, grab a plate," Alan came in stacked with plates and cutlery. Larry and Megan grabbed one each and sat the table while Alan set the rest down. Charlie and Amita followed with a steaming tray of lasagne and a salad.

"Wow this looks great. Thanks Alan. Didn't know I was so hungry."

Alan just looked at Megan. She sounded so much like Don.

"Sorry, occupational hazard."

"You know, I just wish you guys thought about your own well being as much as you do about the people you're trying to protect sometimes."

Megan smiled. She took the hint and the lasagne.

"We look out for each other."

"So how's Don?" Amita asked to no one in particular.

Alan finished his mouthful before he continued. "In a lot of pain. His tough guy façade can only take so much I think."

Larry took the opportunity to provide information, people loved knowing stuff right?

"Yes, well I've heard internal bleeding in the abdomen is particularly painful, for months afterwards too. See the blood just gets reabsorbed into the system and that causes a lot of discomfort."

Everyone simply stared back at him. Larry didn't notice until he finished his mouthful. "Listen, it's better to hear it from me now and be prepared than wonder if they let him out of hospital too early."

"Yeah well define now Larry," Charlie quipped. "Right now, while I'm eating lasagne right now, or right now as in today sometime right now."

Amita smirked at Alan and Megan. They both had a point. Megan stared back at Charlie. He hadn't really said much since she'd arrived and the tone in his voice was one of not wanting to deal with anything to do with Don's medical state at any time.

"You Ok Charlie?"

Charlie nodded and continued to eat.

"He's working," Amita offered. "He's got details and figures swirling around in his head no doubt. Which reminds me. One of the equations we were looking at, concerning the tree of people, the interconnectivity we are looking for possible links in. Between links within the case and those outside the case. There's not enough data. We need a bigger field of people to work with. Did Sarah or Anita Peckham have partners? Or Ridley?"

"Anita and Ridley were an item, and yes," she looked at Alan when she said this, "statutory rape was added to his charges. Sarah was seeing someone, a rich someone actually. But they'd broken it off about 6 months ago. I think it's in the file." Megan leant over and pulled a file from the pack, a witness statement.

"Yeah, here it is," she took a sip of water and continued, "Jack Summers. Made it big in the late 90's and now runs this IT consultancy with a group of other millionaires."

"Oh yes. I know him. The company's called Dot Came right?"

"Uh huh." Megan stared at Larry with that admiration he so loved.

"Yes, very interesting, they all made it big in the dot com boom. Lost it all when it crashed. It made the papers I recall because they were all childhood friends. Rags to riches story etc etc."

"And rags again it sounds like it. If it crashed I mean." Charlie directed that towards Larry.

"Well I'm sure they didn't lose it all, they would have had money stuffed somewhere, it's quite often just a figure of speech these days. They had enough to set up a business together, right."

With that Charlie rose from the table and began heading towards the garage. Suddenly he remembered where he was and turned back to look at the table.

"Maybe we need to look back further than the case. We don't really know when we needed to start looking do we?" And with that Charlie was gone, he had a date with a blackboard.

The others just stared for a second then continued eating. Charlie could wait.

ooOoo

Megan hadn't intended to stay so long at the Eppes' but with Charlie on his tangent she realised she could help Larry and Amita look over the case files. With her knowledge she would simply save them time.

"So you were handed this by LAPD after they realised this operation was too big, too well organised for just a few schoolkids earning extra cash?" Amita didn't look up from the notes she was writing.

"Pretty much. Although," Megan pulled out a piece of paper from the pile, "yeah, here it is. The FBI was simultaneously investigating Ridley for what we thought may have been embezzlement. It was a low profile case. Small amounts of money from his employer. They didn't notice. He was picked up in a general sting, then it was noticed. An importing business. Anyway, it turned out he was laundering money through the business. That's why they didn't notice. It wasn't theirs to begin with, it was drug money. LAPD handed us this and Don connected the two when he realised another team were investigating Ridley. He wasn't very smart, it wasn't hard to work out. Actually he was really lucky he got away with it for so long as it is."

"Lucky huh," Alan's voice projected coolly from the lounge where he was keeping his mind busy with sudoku.

"Sorry, you know what I mean," Megan apologised.

Larry didn't give Alan a chance to answer. "So Anita Peckham, and therefore Sarah Peckham, are connected to money laundering?"

"Probably," Megan sighed. "Charlie knew this from his original analysis."

"Ok, I'm going to go through this with Charlie, see if he can correlate this information with the other Peckham case data. He'll be up all night." With that Amita walked off to the garage.

"I have to go too," Megan began before her cell rang and interrupted her. "Reeves. Yep. Actually still at the Eppes' going over the data. You did? Great. Oh. What?"

Megan simply stared at her cell for a second then looked up at Larry and Alan, both standing in front of her expectantly. "Colby. The ring. He thought it was familiar so he did a search and came up with something. It's kind of like a sorority ring. Friends usually order them, friends who haven't gone to college or went to different colleges. Each one made is unique for the group who orders it. Colby managed to track the jeweller down. His records show it was ordered by a Peter Krimble. This design is supposed to represent wealth forever. Peter Krimble is one of the Dot Came millionaires. He's a school friend of Sarah Peckham's and Jack Summers. There's a good chance this was Jack Summers and he left or lost it at Sarah Peckham's at some point. It's a red herring. It probably doesn't relate to the case. It's not really gonna help Don."

"Not necessarily." Alan, Megan and Larry turned towards Charlie's voice behind them. "My data's incomplete."

"What's new Charlie?"

"Yes, but, looking at what we have it should be enough. I should be able to draw a direct relationship to Don's attack. There's something missing. It's the only explanation. Something we haven't accounted for. Factors we don't know about. Factors, or people. Maybe more people are involved in this drug case."

Megan began to do what she does best. "Don did think it was too big for one guy, but Ridley confessed, he seemed too dumb not to give up others. He fit the profile, he thought he was in control. Even you provided us with the analysis Charlie. It agreed with us."

"I know Megan. Believe me I know. You don't think I haven't thought about this ever since this happened."

"Sorry Charlie, I didn't mean it like that," Megan felt bad for Charlie. It was enough having one Eppes blame himself, she didn't want another one go down that road.

"I know. It's OK. Look, when I first looked at this data for you guys I didn't need to connect…I didn't need to know there was more. The focus of that analysis was the drug dealer. Not the source of the drugs. If this case is covering up a money laundering scam, what else is it? This is not my job, you guys give me the data and I interpret it but I have watched you over the years, you can't help but pick up a few things. To go with your gut, to not be restricted by the data you have, to go beyond it. I think we need to look at this guy, the ex."

"It's OK Charlie. We will look at every angle. You're right. If he is involved then maybe this guy wasn't exactly an ex. Maybe Sarah was lying for some reason. He could be the key, for both of us. You think he could make the data complete?" Megan didn't really want to hear Charlie say anything but yes right now.

"He…I don't know. Someone does probably and, I have to work out some calculations, know more about him. There's one piece missing from the jigsaw and we won't know what the picture really is till we find some data which fits just right."

Megan was thinking as she put her jacket on. Going over Sarah Peckham's psyche in her head, things she maybe didn't pick up on, back when she thought she was a victim and not a suspect. "Thanks Charlie, Thanks Alan."

With that Megan sped out the door. _Like the speed of light_, Larry thought.


	9. Chapter 9

"How's that?"

"Better."

"Good. I'll leave you to it."

The nurse patted the blanket and picked up her syringe before leaving the room.

_Finally decent pain relief. _Despite this Don was a little apprehensive. At least the pain kept his mind off the predicament he was in.

His hand was no longer handcuffed to the bed. _Stupid protocol._ They were doing everything to the extreme out of fear some lawyer would accuse them of giving him special treatment. _Huh! _It had caused him a lot of discomfort and he was glad it had been replaced by the 24 hour guard that now lurked outside his doors.

_Think Eppes think. _Don pushed through to the recesses of his brain, trying desperately to seek out information. The doctor told him it may not come back. They gave him some pretty serious drugs for the operation and with the cocktail already in his system there was no way of knowing if he had actually been lucid when whatever happened happened.

Parts of the case had filtered back to him though. The stakeout at the school when they were watching Anita Peckham's movements. _A kidnapping?_ Ridley had taken and held Anita. _Right? _They'd spent hours negotiating with him, trying to get Anita out. _Her mother._ He remembered she was found too late, the negotiations had gone on too long. She was found in a janitors cupboard. It had looked like she had gone in there to shoot up but later Ridley confessed to killing her. Mrs Peckham was hysterical. He remembered he'd felt so sorry for her. If they'd just burst in earlier, they may have saved her life, but they assumed Anita was being held by Ridley. _Mrs Peckham wouldn't let us._ There hadn't been any reason to not trust her. Not till now. Had he used Charlie's math? He couldn't remember what Charlie had done for the case. Still that wasn't unusual, he rarely understood how Charlie worked out what he did do, the analogies were the only link between Don's world and Charlie's world.

Thinking on all of this now it seemed so obvious that Sarah Peckham was hiding something. _Why hadn't I picked this up? _He couldn't remember what he had been thinking on the case. _Why is that? Did I really know?_ Why didn't he see this? Darkness then clouded Don's eyes, mirroring his thoughts. Was it because he had been involved? Had he somehow cracked? _If I don't remember is it because I am hiding something? _Don just couldn't be sure of his innocence and this made him feel sick to his stomach. The pain was no longer dulled.

"Ah, you're awake," Alan ventured in to the room trying to be upbeat.

"Hey Dad. Charlie here?" Don's voice was faint and contained another emotion. Alan couldn't put his finger on it at first then realised. It was sadness.

"No," without looking in Don's eyes Alan continued, "you sound tired. You in pain?"

"They just upped my painkillers that's all. Good for pain, bad for talking."

Alan nodded and smiled. He noticed the handcuffs were gone.

"Dad."

"Yes."

"You don't have to come so often. I'll be fine, you've got things to do." _I need my space right now._

Alan was mortified. Don was not well, he was beaten, physically and mentally. At the best of times Don needed his own space but this, this was a hospital for pity's sake. He was sick. Really sick. And really sick people in hospitals get visitors, for the visitors sake mainly. Don knew this. He even understood that Charlie couldn't. Charlie didn't want to see people like this, his heart was too big, it destroyed him too much to face it when it was his mother was dying. Don knew this was a time he simply had to put up with company.

"And I don't have to care about my son. But I do. So I'll visit and you'll be grateful."

"Wish you were more like Charlie." Another stab to Alan's heart he didn't show.

"Oh yeah. Well funny you should say that, I've learnt a few things from Charlie lately. There's an interesting mathematical theory about why you can only fold a piece of paper so many times. Or this thing where they calculate the amount of drugs you need to make someone better, not sick, based on a body weight ratio."

"Alright alright. I take it back. Stop. You're fine just the way you are. But you can't quote me on that because I'm drugged and I don't know what I'm saying."

Alan's face turned dark. "What about what you're feeling?"

"Ah Dad."

"I'm serious"

"Fine, you tell me how you really feel about your son being stabbed."

"Angry. Angry at you for allowing this to happen. Worried. Worried that you don't know how it happened. And helpless. Utterly helpless."

"Then you already know how I feel. I don't need to say it."

As soon as Don spoke this Alan's eyes glazed over. He looked through Don as he searched his thoughts. _Now I feel pain_. Alan didn't show this pain to his son, he needed to be strong. Don didn't know what it was like to feel helpless for their child, to feel so scared, even when the danger of dying was lifted, the fear had remained this time. Don didn't know how Alan really felt at all.

ooOoo

Sarah Peckham had proved to be tougher than Megan suspected. She would not budge from her allegations. Megan had let her go home overnight but insisted she come back for more questioning in the morning. Along with Jack Summers.

Colby and David were going to interrogate Jack. Everyone had slept better the past night and they felt hopeful they could crack something today.

"I don't get it. Knowing Don's innocent, she's lying, so why would she?" Colby directed the question towards Megan.

"A mother lying about her child's killer? To protect someone. My angle? To protect Jack Summers. But why is a completely different question. He has something over her, maybe she was getting more than just a small cut of the drug money."

"Her place doesn't look like she was," David interjected.

"Yeah but she may be so scared of being caught she doesn't want to spend it," Megan explained.

"Kind of defeats the purpose then doesn't it," Colby noted.

"Yeah well, if the life of a crim was so easy we'd all be doing it right? There's easier ways to earn money." Megan picked up a folder and began to pull her jacket on.

David raised an eyebrow and looked at Colby. "Yeah like working for the FBI."

"If Jack is the mastermind behind the drugs, he's got the most to lose. I'll do Sarah again, she's vulnerable. I think she's the weak link." With that comment Megan headed out to the interrogation room.

Colby and David looked at each other. "You wanna be bad cop for a change?" Colby quipped.

David smiled and rose from his seat. "I always thought I was."

"What does that mean?"

"People have been talking Granger. The words 'push' and 'over' have been mentioned."

Colby was rooted to the spot. _It was a joke right?_

ooOoo

Charlie sheepishly walked past the guards. He hated them, well not really them, just the point of them. As he opened Don's door he noticed the noise roused the patient.

"Sorry."

"Nah, it's OK. Wasn't sleeping. Just drowsy."

"Good drugs huh."

Don grimaced at the word. He'd had enough drugs to last him a lifetime.

"Good to see you Chuck."

"Yeah." Charlie sat himself down in a chair too exhausted to be annoyed at the insult.

"Wanna swap?" Don gestured to his bed. "You look like you need it more than me at the moment, surely."

Charlie took in Don's form, he looked incredibly pale and ill still. He shook his head. "Not quite."

"You've been in the garage all night."

Charlie began to get defensive. He wasn't like that anymore. He'd grown. He was better able to cope with these things now. Why was he still tainted with that brush?

Don sensed his annoyance. "You've got chalk all through your hair."

"Oh." Charlie felt bad for his thoughts now, and he had actually been in the garage all night, just working on his own stuff, relaxation. "I finished your stuff last night. Cognitive emergence theory. Just fun, I needed a break."

"Sleep Charlie. A beer. Heck even a movie! They're breaks. We'll talk about this when I get out. Clue you in on a few things. How us mere mortals relax eh."

This didn't go unnoticed by Charlie. Don must be feeling better, he thought he was getting out. And he'd be free to talk.

"Charlie you don't have to be here. It's OK. It's really boring. Besides it makes me feel uncomfortable. People always hovering over me."

Charlie was hurt by this. He wanted to be there, he was like his dad in that respect. Of course he'd done everything he could for Don, he'd worked hard. _I guess I'm like Don as well._ He wouldn't have been able to rest till he had worked this out and neither did Charlie. Of course he hadn't really worked it out, merely given the FBI the tools they need to work it out. But it was the best he could do and he trusted the others to use it wisely. Right now he wanted to be here with Don, show his support, see for himself how quickly he was getting better, but Don was Don. And knowing Don…

"So you don't want to know about the case then. Cool, I'll just be off."

A sharp pain clawed at Don's belly as he tried to wave Charlie back to the chair. Charlie grinned and sat back down but suddenly became concerned when he saw Don's face screwed in pain.

"Sorry."

"No, I'm sorry. I know you better than that. Knew you wouldn't leave. Should have played along. Ouch." Don had spoken this through broken breaths while he patted down the bandage under the blankets with his eyes closed.

"You need a nurse?"

"No I need info. Spill buddy!"


	10. Chapter 10

"We know you are still involved with Sarah Peckham. We know you are involved with the drugs. You are looking down the barrel of a very long line charges Jack. If I were you I'd start providing us with what we want to know otherwise they are only going to get longer."

Jack Summers sweated in the chair and clasped his hands more tightly together. Colby slammed photographs of the dead Anita Peckham in front of him and his senses were bombarded with thoughts, and more importantly, fear.

"I." Jack gulped. "I don't know what you want me to tell you. I had nothing to do with this."

David knew he was hiding something. For 10 minutes now he had barely spoken. He seemed confused and completely out of place. Not surprising for a man dressed in a trendy navy suit with a pink tie. Corporate was not just his career, it was his way of life. He was not used to not giving the orders and with that simple role reversal he seemed to have crumbled.

"Sarah Peckham. She wasn't your ex was she?" David flopped a photo of her next to him, in case he'd forgotten who he had dated.

Letting his index finger pull out from his tight clasp, Jack fingered the photo. "I." He looked up to David, the nicer agent in his mind. "No."

"No what?" Colby slammed his fist down on to the table. He liked playing bad cop. Cliché as it was, this simple power play never failed to work wonders in the interview rooms with the guilty.

Jack looked up to him. Fear, not guilt, seemed to bore out from his eyes. "No she wasn't my ex. We've known each other since high school, it's hard to leave that kind of connection be."

David walked out of the room and in to the interrogation room to watch how Megan was faring. Jack was starting to talk but it wasn't the kind of information they needed. A few moments alone with Colby and he'd probably crack a little further.

ooOoo

Megan sat next to Sarah. She was trying to connect with her, bring her in then crack her.

"We know you were still seeing Jack. Why would you lie about that Sarah?"

Megan didn't blink as she tried to read Sarah's reactions. There was nothing there. _Maybe she was still in shock over her daughter._

"Sarah, you have to talk. You are in this very deep. You brought this whole situation back up with the police. You accused a fellow agent I know to be innocent. You had to know we wouldn't just take your word for it? So why would you do this? I'm guessing it was a cry for help. You wanted us to reopen the case, because there's something we missed. Or someone we missed. Jack."

Sarah stared straight up in to Megan's eyes and this time Megan saw that she'd hit a nerve. _She is hiding something and it is about Jack._ Still Sarah wasn't talking. _Strange._

"Jack has something over you? The drugs."

Sarah smiled. _They know about the drugs. Good._

Megan was confused. She really wasn't doing very well at reading this woman. Sarah was making Megan do all the talking and allowing her to come to her own conclusions. She was supposed to be weak, a victim should be more talkative by now. Whatever power Jack had over her it was strong.

ooOoo

"..and so you think I missed something? Charlie we checked everybody. I think." There it was. A shadow of doubt and therefore guilt crossing Don's mind. It quickly passed. "I mean Ridley confessed. He was neither smart enough nor brave enough to do that for someone else."

"Well the numbers don't lie Don and I say there's someone else involved. Your team agree and it's the angle they're going for."

"Look Charlie, I understand and appreciate that but my instinct tells me otherwise."

"Your instinct also is making you feel like you are guilty or responsible because you can't remember." Charlie's words stung. Maybe Don was confusing guilt with feeling responsible. It made sense. Enough sense to overwhelm him, but he kept the emotions and thoughts under control. He didn't want to regret having Charlie know his weaknesses, or the pleasure in thinking he had worked Don out.

"Charlie, you don't know anything about what I'm feeling, just like I don't know how you work those numbers. Just leave it. All I'm saying," Don paused while a wave of pain washed over him. Charlie leant forward in the chair concerned that he had pushed his brother too far. "All I'm saying is this isn't as simple as you think. If Jack Summers is the drug guy then it doesn't make sense for him to kill Anita. It doesn't actually help me. Why would he risk everything by killing her."

"Because. Well. Um, that's your team's job to work out. The numbers don't lie." Charlie began to get flustered. Mathematically he knew he was right, logically he knew Don was. "Maybe it was an accident, or maybe she really overdosed. Maybe it was never a murder." Charlie felt so pleased with himself for being able to come up with an answer. He'd actually learnt a bit from Don.

"Then there's no need to frame me. And I'm guilty."

Charlie gulped.

ooOoo

Megan and David mirrored each other in the viewing room. Jack Summers sat nervous and edgy in one room and Sarah Peckham sat cold and emotionless in the other.

"They were childhood sweethearts but I don't know. There's something about him. He seems scared." David motioned towards Jack through the glass, his position similar to that of a caged animal almost.

"Yeah, well Sarah Peckham is not giving me anything." Megan sat down in the chair and sighed.

"I've been thinking. I mean what if he's innocent. Where does that leave us?"

"Listen David, he isn't innocent. He's involved in the drugs. A man who grows up poor will do anything to keep money. Losing all that money in the dot com bust would have shaken his ego. But there is something bothering me. Sarah Peckham. Shock is understandable, she's lost a child, but if he's responsible, why would she protect him? I thought he had something over her but like you say, he's nervous, she's not."

David cocked his head at Megan knowingly. They'd both just figured something out.


	11. Chapter 11

When Charlie left Don had taken the opportunity to sleep before the nurses returned. Pain from the wound was beginning to throb in time with his heartbeat and it made him feel uncomfortable. Nurses had left his uneaten breakfast behind in case he would eat it later but the thought of it made him feel nauseous. He wished they had taken it away so he couldn't smell the eggs.

The room was never going to be quiet with the machines but with the pain, throbbing and nausea Don began to feel really overwhelmed by his situation. All he wanted was to be able to sleep and let this pass but he couldn't.

Robyn had decided to spend a few hours with Don and quietly looked through the door. He seemed to be in mild discomfort. This straightened her up and she walked over to ask him what she could do to ease the pain.

"Don."

ooOoo

Colby had conferred with David outside the door and re-entered the interrogation room. David remained in the viewing room to watch the scene unfold. He double checked the recorder was working on both machines for the rooms.

"So Jack. Sarah's in the other room right now telling us how you masterminded this whole thing. You didn't want to lose your precious drug empire which funded all these fancy suits. Anita got a little too greedy, she was going to rat on you. She'd told Sarah and you then had her killed. What we want to know is how did you get Ridley to confess and what it is that you have over Sarah Peckham. You help us we'll see what we can do arranging designer orange overalls for your time in prison."

Jack looked up at Colby absolutely confused.

ooOoo

Megan had decided to try a completely new tact. She was going to walk Sarah past Jack's room before interrogating her again and had arranged for a toilet break. With handcuffs digging in to her skin, Sarah Peckham paused as she neared Jack's interrogation room. She paused long enough to cause Jack to look up from the table and their eyes caught each other. Megan carefully studied Sarah's reactions. Finally she saw an emotion in there, an emotion she recognised.

OoOoo

"Look," Jack swallowed in an attempt to think about what he said. David and Colby patiently waited for his response, certain they were getting somewhere. Sarah Peckham had definitely freaked him out. "I don't want to go to jail, I didn't do any of this."

"Any of what?" David asked.

"This," he pointed at the photographs, "She said if I didn't help her she'd kill me. I believed her."

"Do what?" Colby pressed.

"That FBI agent. He came round to her house the other night. I was there, she made me. She said I'd end up like Anita if I didn't do it."

David and Colby knew that they should remain quiet, let him tell more on the assumption they actually knew it all anyway and he was just trying to tell his side. Jack fell for it.

"Yes I drugged him but that's it. She made me put the guy in her car and that's it. That's all I did."

He looked up earnestly at the 2 agents, Colby was fuming.

"All you did? Well now, money laundering, organising the sale of drugs to schoolkids, accessory to murder and perverting the course of justice by forcing someone else to confess. I'd say that was a little more than nothing wouldn't you?"

Jack stared back in disbelief. They knew most of it, but not the part relating to him. "What are you talking about?" Jack was almost screaming now. "You think I AM the drug lord?"

"No Jack, we know," David spat.

"Why don't you ask Sarah those questions. How do you think her daughter ended up dealing drugs in the first place? She got us hooked in high school and now she controls all of our lives. Why would I kill Anita if I was in charge? Despite what I've gotten myself into here I am simply not that dumb. I wouldn't want attention on the business that makes me rich! You guys don't have anything on me cos you clearly don't know anything about what's going on."

Suddenly Jack stopped short. He froze, he finally understood what Sarah was doing. David and Colby were still trying to work out whether to believe the guy or not.

ooOoo

Megan realised she had read Sarah Peckham all wrong. Everyone had. She could believe that they'd all fallen for it but it was so out of character for Don to have never picked up on this before. Or had he?

After watching David and Colby's interrogation she realised they'd all been wrong. Still, she couldn't work out why. They needed a confession but she wasn't sure how to extract it. Seeing Jack had definitely unnerved her but for some reason Megan felt as though she was more relieved than anything else.

The glass door flew open as Megan burst in and Sarah looked up at her. _What does that look mean? Smugness?_ Megan was going to try another approach.

"We have a confession from Jack Summers. We don't really need anything else from you. He's told us everything."

Sarah stared back with what looked like fear. This was not how it was supposed to play out. She had planned to pretend to crack this time, confess all Jack's sins.

Megan got up to leave.

"No!"

Megan stopped and spun around in response to the remark.

"He's lying."

"Well now Sarah you don't even know what he said." Megan retorted.

_Is this agent playing with me? _"So he admitted to sleeping with my daughter?"

Realisation fell heavy on Megan's shoulders but her training ensured Sarah Peckham didn't see this. Finally she understood it all. _But this means…oh._

"Of course Sarah. He knows statutory rape doesn't get you a needle, not like murder."

Sarah panicked. How had all this collapsed?

"Jack, Jack would never admit that. He could never admit it to me. What are you talking about?"

For the first time in a long time Megan felt like this case was surmountable, that she could have some hope. "Listen Sarah, you can ask him, right now we are more interested in processing this paperwork and then charging you with murder, the supply of drugs to minors, money laundering."

Megan slammed some paperwork down on to the desk. A photo of Anita fell out and caught Sarah's eye.

"Oh yeah, and how about killing your own daughter and convincing Ridley that he had. Would you like me to go on?"

Sarah had nothing to lose now, at least that's what she thought. She was determined to make Jack pay, she could not go down for all of this. Killing Anita was a means to an end, after all how could your own daughter do that – steal her mother's lover. Jack was supposed to love her, not her daughter.

Megan sensed the coldness that was seeping out of Sarah. This was the real person finally brimming to the surface.

"He chucked me aside as soon as I became too old you know. I made him rich! We had nothing, nothing growing up and I gave him everything, a way out. Yet despite all that, despite saying he loved me it was all an act. He loved Anita. I'm the victim here. Can't you see that?"

Sarah was careful not to admit to anything, she was appealing to Megan's female side. Not realising that Megan was not someone she could play with.

"Did he tell you he was planning on going to the Bahamas with Anita. With OUR money?" Megan simply stared back, letting Sarah dig her own confession through her pleading.

"He was going to take my money AND my daughter. What would you do?"

Megan took this as an opportunity to let Sarah know exactly where she was heading.

"Well I certainly wouldn't have killed one and tried to frame the other, but that's just me right!"

Sarah made a last attempt to salvage sympathy. "He needed to know what it was like to lose someone he loved. Ridley really thought he'd killed Anita, he thought it was his drugs. The moron." _He ruined everything. _"Anita was a slut sleeping with both Ridley and Jack. Ridley is a junkie and Jack is a lying bastard and you still can't see that I'm the victim here. Jack did everything."

"I'm sorry, I don't believe you. Why wouldn't you have told us this when it happened. Or hey what about before you decided to frame an FBI agent for her death. Do you honestly expect us to believe your lies for a third time?"

"FBI!" Sarah spat. "If you'd just done your job properly in the first place you would have found out Jack was to blame."

"Don't you mean if we'd fallen for your game initially? Such a shame young Ridley ruined all this for you isn't it? We may have found Jack Summers and linked him to Anita's death, but Ridley gave us a dead end. You did too good a job of covering your tracks Sarah, still trying to kill a federal agent when we didn't fall for it was not a smart move on your behalf. We take that kind of thing personally here. Not very smart Sarah at all."

Sarah snapped. Megan smiled. _Got her._

"What are you talking about? You people totally botched this case. He said it was closed. Anita was dead and you believed that idiot Ridley and that was that? You didn't even know Jack Summers existed because the moron confessed to everything, including the drugs. Dammit, I planted the damn ring in the evidence and you people still didn't pick up the lead. Not till you closed the case at least. That agent was smart enough to work it out but way too late, you could do with one less idiot on your force right?"

Megan dare not show the absolute anger she felt for this woman now. She felt sick thinking about the compassion and pity she had felt for her, how could she have not picked up on this earlier. Blame. Megan felt she was to blame for Don's injury. She could have stopped it. Of course in her line of work she had to constantly fight to keep these feelings of guilt at bay because rationale taught you that you can't do everything. Humans make mistakes, that was all too evident in the FBI and as many mistakes that landed on her desk, she still managed to make so many more right.


	12. Chapter 12

Colby and David sat around Megan's cubicle piecing everything together. Sarah had given away enough information to implicate herself and Jack Summers had filled in most of the blanks. Colby had even managed to unearth the fact that every one of the houses the Dot Came millionaires owned was actually paid for by Sarah Peckham. She'd used another name, another bank account but it was her. She owned 4 million dollar houses in Hollywood and let the old school friends use them. Her dilapidated house was a cover, she stayed there when the heat was on, but generally stayed at Jack's mansion. With her daughter.

The only part they had little information about was what happened to Don in those missing 34 hours. Jack claimed not to have been involved once he drugged Don and put him in her car but Sarah was not forthcoming with information in respect to that. It was to remain a mystery. They assumed she needed time to bombard his system with her drugs to make him look like a junkie but other than that, it was anybody's guess.

"Colby impound Mrs Peckham's car and get a forensic team to pull any DNA from it and match it to Don's. Then we can finally close this stupid investigation into him." Megan sighed. She was mad at Sarah, at herself and at the FBI for everything that had gone down in the last few days.

Colby nodded and picked up the phone while David stared down at the mountain of paperwork on Megan's desk. "I don't understand why she didn't just kill Don. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad but still."

"She wanted to frame Jack and her angle was blaming an FBI agent, if he was dead he couldn't defend himself and then Jack still wouldn't be implicated. She was smart, at least she was trying to be smart."

"Yeah well Don nearly did die." Colby quipped. All 3 faintly nodded and silently agreed to not talk about it. "And all because a woman got cheated on. A woman scorned huh."

Megan looked over her glasses at Colby and smiled. "Yeah, or you could say it was because a guy couldn't keep his dick in his pants."

David laughed. "Somehow I don't think Don will appreciate he was stabbed for either of those reasons."

"Don't worry David, I'll tell him that it was all for love." Megan grinned.

"Yeah, love hurts right? Speaking of which, what's the normal amount of time after surgery before serious jibes about a secret girlfriend can commence?" Colby asked.

ooOoo

"Hey Megan," Charlie answered his cell. He was walking down the CalSci corridor looking for Larry to have lunch with. It felt weird to be at work while he was on a few days leave but Larry had forgotten to meet him at the café so he'd come looking for him. He was almost at Larry's office when Megan called.

Charlie stopped in his tracks. The phone was glued to his ear. Larry bounded out of his office as though he'd forgotten something and caught Charlie standing still outside.

"Charles, are you alright?" Larry questioned as Charlie slowly snapped his phone shut. He was deep in thought and stared down at his phone for a few seconds before deciding to look Charlie in the eye.

Charlie's eyes were full of emotion and for once Larry didn't know what to say.

"That was Megan." Charlie managed to say.

"Yes. And by the look on your face she just told you something pretty important."

Charlie cocked his head and grinned. "Yeah. Don's going to be OK. Sarah Peckham has admitted she lied about Don. I didn't know. Don did."

Larry was even more confused by his former prodigy than ever. "Charles you really aren't making much sense for someone who professes to be a teacher."

Charlie's grin grew. "I knew someone else was involved but Don couldn't make sense of it. He was right, Jack Summers did not kill Anita, there was no one else involved. Sarah Peckham was using him. Apparently Jack was sleeping with Anita. Sarah Peckham killed her own daughter Larry, she blamed Don because she knew it meant we'd reopen the case and it would lead us back to Jack. She wanted Jack to be found out for what he did."

"Oh my. Why is it love and hate are so easily intertwined, and so violently in this case." Larry pondered that thought.

Megan told Charlie he could tell Don. "Listen I've got to cancel on the lunch, I need to tell Don."

"I'll drive you Charles."

"Um, I need to get there today."

"I do own more than one car, you will find today's transport slightly more modern than you are thinking."

"Seatbelts?"

ooOoo

Charlie rushed in to the hospital and was about to enter Don's room when Alan's hand reached out and stopped him.

"Come here Charlie."

"Dad, what? I need to see Don."

"Charlie!"

Alan's voice boomed a little louder than he realised it would through the corridor. He guided Charlie down to the plastic seating.

"Charlie, Don's not in there."

Charlie just stared back at his dad. What was he saying?

"Your brother may have been in a bit more pain than he let on. They've taken him back to surgery. Megan phoned me and said you were coming here."

Alan was about to continue but Robin Brooks interrupted. She had brought a coffee for Alan and noticing Charlie she gestured to see if he would like one.

"No thanks. But. I don't understand. He was fine. How could he hide that much pain? Why wouldn't he say anything?"

Robyn sat down next to Charlie and nodded to Alan to signify she'd like to explain. Alan let her know that was fine.

"Charlie, I guess Don's used to putting everyone first. He was worried about you, you know?" Charlie stared back at Robyn. How did she know this about her brother. How long had she even known him? Why was she telling him this? "He asked me about you. A lot. He was worried you'd flip out. His words not mine."

"Listen Robyn, no offence, but I think I know my brother so what you're saying isn't really news to me."

Alan gave Charlie a look as if to say 'don't be rude.'

"I know you do Charlie, so you'll understand why he didn't make any noise about this until he knew you were OK. He told me you saw him this morning. Thought you were doing good. He told me a lot of things and then he finally told me he didn't know if he was feeling so great. Didn't know if it was normal or not. I asked a nurse. The point is Charlie Don asked for help and he got it. It's just – he asked me."

He thought about her words. Why was she telling him this. She was a stranger really, she wasn't family. That was her point.

Charlie WAS happy. Happy that Don finally had someone he felt comfortable to share his feelings with. In truth though he was a little upset that after all he'd done for Don he should have been able to confide in him. Or maybe he was just a little upset he didn't realise his own brother was in so much pain.

"Charlie, I didn't know either." Alan's empathy drew Charlie back to why he was there.

"He's innocent. I came here to tell him they'd cleared him."

"I know. Like I said Megan phoned me. Don will be fine. He'll be fine." Alan patted Charlie on the back as they leaned back in to the chairs to wait. Robyn looked at Don's family and almost felt a jealousy. She certainly would not be able to share a moment like this in such a way with hers. Don was lucky.

ooOoo

David walked back in to the cubicle and slumped back in his chair. Several hours of interrogation and then paperwork had taken its toll. Colby wearily stumbled in to talk to him.

"So. We get the next couple of days off to make up for this?"

"We better, I have one angry date that I need to make up for my sudden departure the other morning."

"You had a morning date?" Colby enquired of David.

David shook his head at Colby's tiredness and therefore inability to understand. "No Colby, the date was the night before."

Megan dragged her feet in to their cubicle and just looked at her colleagues. "I know you don't really want to hear this." Colby and David groaned, not more paperwork.

"Not paperwork. Charlie was on his way to tell Don he was in the clear. I spoke to Alan. He can't tell Don because he's been rushed back in to surgery. There's been some complication. He's not doing too great. I thought we could all maybe grab something to eat, wait it out. Alan said he'd call when he knew anything."

David and Colby were mortified. "What are his chances? What did they say?"

"Alan didn't know. They weren't telling him very much. I don't know. To go through all of this. The stress. Then finally it's all over only he doesn't know." Megan didn't say what she was really thinking. _What if he dies thinking he did this._

Colby picked up his jacket. "He'll be fine. He survived being stabbed and left for dead I am sure he can survive further surgery."

They all nodded and then headed out from the office. Megan nodded and smiled as she walked past Agent McAdams. He smiled back.

ooOoo

Robyn had gone in to see Don. 4 hours he'd been in surgery and when they finally brought him back to his room Alan thought it best if Robyn was the first to see him. He had to start letting his son go again. Not like New Mexico, still it was hard.

"Dad."

"Yes Charlie."

"I think I've worked it out."

"Worked what out?" Although Alan knew full well what Charlie had been pondering while waiting there.

"Why Don is the way he is."

"Glad to hear it Charlie. Maybe you can next work out why you are the way you are."

"Yeah right. Don. Well he. I mean. I kind of took all the energy out of the house when I was a kid. Don just had to get on with things. I guess maybe he wanted to feel useful in society after he'd been so useless as a son." Charlie looked at his dad and felt the need to clarify. "Compared to a genius I mean. You know no matter what he did he couldn't change that so he decided he could change other people's lives. For the better. He's just used to protecting people. He's become the protector. But women. Well they are not people. He can tell Robyn because women have all the power."

"Well it didn't take a genius to work that out now did it. Of course, it took me about 5 years with your mother to work it out." Alan smiled at Charlie. "This wouldn't have anything to do with Amita would it?"

Charlie looked at his dad. He said no but they both knew he meant yes.

ooOoo

"Don." Robyn whispered so softly she barely heard herself. The doctor said he should be awake by now but then he looked so sick she wasn't sure she should wake him. The bleeding had started again. It happens, they said, but she knew it was probably accountable to Don trying to do too much too early. It was what she liked about him. He wouldn't be beaten down.

"Go." Don's words, faint as they were, shocked Robyn. "Go home, you…terrible."

"You aren't exactly a picture perfect yourself agent."

"Maybe." It was all Don could manage for the moment. He was exhausted. He felt like he'd been through the losing end of several bouts with a boxer. Everything was sore, but he felt better than when he'd last seen Robyn. It was worse than when he'd woken up in the alley, from what he could remember, the adrenaline had at least kept the pain at bay then. Despite his usual desire to hide the pain he had known that there was something wrong. Pain he could disguise, and this was more than pain so he was glad Robyn had been there for him.

"Thanks." Robyn cocked her head at Don's gratitude, not really sure what it was for.

"Thanks? I'll tell you that you look crap more often then. What do I need to tell you to get flowers? Ooh and chocolate?"

"For being here."

Robyn smiled at Don's comment, she didn't dare say she felt the same back to him, the alternative to him being here was something she had certainly thought about over the past few days. "Oh, I almost forgot. Your little brother's out there, wants to tell you something, you want me to bring him in? Don?"

Robyn still had a concerned look on her face when Alan and Charlie walked in.

"Sorry Robyn."

"No, it's fine…although I think I may have worn him out. I think he's asleep."

Charlie threw his hands up in the air. "Even if he lives for another 60 years he's still going to think he's guilty!"

"Thanks Robyn." Alan, looking beyond exhausted himself, relaxed in to the chair beside the bed and nodded as Robyn collected her stuff and left the room. "You should probably go home too Charlie. I'm only going to stay a few more minutes. You can tell him tomorrow."

"Go. Both of you. If you don't need your sleep at least I do."

Alan looked down at his son. _Ingrate._ "Well Charlie, I guess we'll leave the bear with the sore head to himself. Don't know how any woman would put up with him really."

Charlie knew exactly how to play Don, even in his exhausted state. "Sure Dad. Let's go grab a pizza. Agent Eppes doesn't really need to know about what his team have been doing anyway."

Don stirred. Exhausted, frustrated but definitely interested in a development.

Charlie shot Alan a knowing glance and he smiled back, enjoying the sense of relief he was feeling that maybe everything would be OK.

"What Chuck?" Don's frustration grew with the silence and he was beginning to feel more worn out than ever before.

"Well OK. It's only that Sarah Peckham killed Anita and was in charge of the drugs and the money laundering and they've got her and you're in the clear. That's all."

The smirk that covered Charlie's face quickly disappeared when he heard Don's reaction. "Is that all? I figured that out hours ago."

Charlie shuffled his feet thinking Robyn had beat him to his moment of glory.

"The no guards at the door was a good giveaway, Charlie. You've got math, I've got observation. Don't think you can ever pull something over on me, I'll beat you to the punch."

Deflated was an understatement to the way Charlie felt. "Nothing has ever gotten past you."

Don couldn't show his relief with words, but the stress that had hovered over him leached out from his pores and he relaxed in to the bed, asleep.


End file.
